Kitchen Experts Estimator App
In 2019 I designed an IOS Tablet Based, Internal Application for estimation and quote creation for a large, multi-state group of renovation experts.
Role
UX Lead
Agency
Gleason Creative Co, Avia Media
Client
Kitchen Experts of California
Year
2019
Located in the California and Arizona, Kitchen Experts crafts and leads beautiful kitchen remodels from start to finish.
In 2019 I was approached thorough Aviamedia to lead a redesign of Kitchen Experts internal estimator application used on site by their sales team.
The old application was created to be used solely on iPhones at the time which limited screen size and functionality. We took an iPad/Tablet first approach to the project to enable maximum visibility for completing complex estimations.
The design is focused purely on the user experience, with the excess visual elements kept as minimal as possible. Text hierarchy and content layering took focus to allow for a straight forward, no frills experience. We started with a style tile based on the brand and role holder goals and came to an agreed decision on this approach.
By utilizing the almost wireframe-esque approach to the entire design system, I was able to rapidly prototype the entire application with the agreed upon visuals, which eliminated a lot of time and cost in a project with a fast closing deadline and limited budget.
The estimation creation flow was a challenge to get right as there is a lot of information that can go into creating a quote for an entire kitchen remodel. After testing a few approaches such as a wizard based UI, and a drag and drop interface, we worked with the client, and their estimation team to settle on a drill-down type interface.
This allowed for estimators on their team to see real time updates to the cost as they added new items to the estimate through a fixed pane on the left of the screen.
With this being a time and budget limited project, there are many things I’ve reflected on that I felt could have been handled differently, among them spending more time with individual estimators testing our designs and assumptions.
Feedback and testing cycles were handled with experienced estimators at the company and bringing in more junior staff would have allowed us to further refine the application to help integrate ideas we had such as a new user onboarding experience, as well as potentially reducing the amount of steps in the estimation flow.
