01. OVERVIEW
This case study showcases my redesign of a POS system to replace prebuilt solutions that no longer met merchant needs and business goals. I focused on streamlining key workflows and improving usability for staff with varying tech literacy at small, often immigrant-owned restaurants. The new system reflected the company’s refreshed brand and created room for future growth.
02. MY ROLE
At uP, I was part of a small product team redesigning our in-house POS system, uServe. With just three designers supporting multiple product areas, my role often stretched beyond typical UX/UI. I led the design for uServe from start to finish, working closely with PMs, developers, sales teams, and the C-suite to solve real merchant challenges and deliver a more intuitive and scalable product.
03. CHALLENGES
Challenge #1
uServe was originally a white-labeled POS system with limited flexibility. The prebuilt design didn’t reflect how real staff worked, especially in small, immigrant-owned restaurants. My challenge was to rethink the experience while working within existing hardware and operational constraints.
Solution
Through research and collaboration with internal teams, we uncovered key friction points in the original system and prioritized improvements around speed, clarity, and usability. By building on familiar structures, we delivered a more scalable, merchant-centered product.
Challenge #2
As uServe rebranded and shifted toward a more product-led identity, the design needed to feel modern and intentional. Our users are immigrant-owned restaurant staff who relied on muscle memory to stay efficient. The challenge was to make meaningful improvements without disrupting established workflows.
Solution
I focused on upgrading the experience without starting from scratch. We modernized the interface, integrated the company’s new branding, and clarified key flows, while keeping core patterns intact. By balancing new design with old habits, we delivered an experience that felt both refreshed and comfortably familiar.
04. RESEARCH
To better understand uServe’s merchant base, we worked with sales teams to learn about the merchants they support and the challenges they see. We reviewed data from 3,200+ accounts to identify key user segments and product opportunities.
uServe’s merchants are diverse small business owners, most of whom do not speak English as their first language
Unlike experience-based dining, uServe merchants rely on fast turnover and affordable menu items.
This data highlights the importance of a system that addresses language barriers and accessibility.
For the merchants, efficiency is not just a convenience but a necessity to stay competitive and profitable.
We conducted onsite user research in NYC to observe and speak with owners and staff to understand their realities.
Crowded UI
Overwhelming colors and dense text made it hard for staff to find what they needed quickly.
Difficult order tracking
Cluttered screens made it hard to track orders, especially for staff who rely on visual cues.
Inflexible order editing
The rigid process made editing orders prone to mistakes and slowdowns.
Unclear status indicators
Staff couldn’t easily tell an order’s status, which slowed coordination.
After interviews and onsite observation, we mapped how staff interacted with the system to pinpoint workflow slowdowns and uncover opportunities for improvement.
Modifying orders
Extra taps or unclear options when modifying an order can slow staff down and cause mistakes and stress, especially during peak hours.
Tracking orders
Status tracking was hard to scan or buried in the interface. When staff juggle multiple tasks, unclear order states can cause miscommunication.
Simplify modification steps and frequently used actions to support faster edits under pressure.
Use clearer visual indicators and consistent UX language to help staff instantly understand order progress.
Early on, the executive team pushed to align uServe’s flow with industry leaders like Square and Toast. While we benchmarked their systems and noted their workflows began with table selection, this didn’t reflect how uServe merchants operate day to day.
Key insights
A better fit than industry norms
Our merchants move fast. Orders may be placed before seating is finalized, or without it entirely. A simple, flexible flow fits how they actually work better.
User habits
Merchants already rely on an existing structure that works well enough in fast-paced environments. overhauling the structure risks causing confusion.
Decision
Modernize without disrupting
We chose to improve what worked instead of replacing it. By keeping the overall flow intact, we focused our design effort on clarity, speed, and better UI.
05. DESIGN CRITIQUE
In the critique session, we evaluated the old system in terms of usability, visual hierarchy, and navigation.
User-centered strengths
The original layout used large, colorful buttons. While unpolished, it made key actions easy to find, especially for staff with limited tech fluency.
Emerging limitations
As uServe scaled, the layout became cluttered. Without hierarchy, key tasks got buried, slowing staff down. It also no longer reflected the product-led, modern brand we were evolving into.
Redesign the layout for clarity and structure
We chose to rework the interface layout to introduce better organization, clearer task prioritization, and visual hierarchy, without losing the simplicity that worked well for our core users.
06. WIREFRAMING
In the wireframing phase, we created over 70 screens to cover key flows, edge cases, and structural improvements across the system.
07. DESIGN ENHANCEMENT
While uServe relied on Material Design for consistency, the icon set lacked POS-specific actions like “void order” and “merge tables.” These gaps made it harder for staff to quickly identify key tasks.
To solve this, we designed a custom icon set to enhance clarity, support non-native English speakers, and reduce misclicks in high-pressure moments.
Problem
The old system was cluttered with too many buttons, inconsistent colors, and had no clear structure. Staff had to return to the home page just to switch tasks.
Solution
We redesigned the experience around a persistent sidebar to organize features by usage context. This made navigation faster and more organized. We also applied color more intentionally to reduce visual noise.
Problem
Order type selection was mixed in with unrelated actions on the home screen, blurring a key workflow. While staff could choose dine-in, takeout, or delivery, the scattered layout made it harder to focus.
Solution
We grouped all service types under a dedicated Menu section, giving order creation a clear starting point.
This made the workflow more focused and structured.
We added a lightweight real-time dashboard to give staff a quick view of how the day is going.
There was no quick way to check daily performance. Sales numbers and product performance weren’t visible on the POS, so staff had to use a separate back-office tool, often inconvenient or inaccessible.
Solution
We added a real-time dashboard so staff can quickly glance at key stats like total orders, sales, or prep time without leaving the POS. It keeps everyone aligned and informed, without breaking their workflow.
Key features
We redesigned the order summary panel with a clear, receipt-style layout to help staff place orders quickly and accurately.
Problem
We observed that placing an order was a key step where staff often paused to double-check details. The dense list-style layout, inconsistent formatting, and competing color accents made it harder to verify items and quantities at a glance.
Solution
We introduced a modular, receipt-style layout that mirrors how staff are used to seeing orders. Details like quantities, modifiers, prices, discounts, and totals are grouped and clearly displayed. This reduced visual noise, improved clarity, and helped staff feel more confident at checkout.
Key improvements
We restructured the right-side panel into two tabs, Check and Actions, to reduce clutter while keeping advanced tools easily accessible.
The Check tab focuses on items, prices, and totals, while the Actions tab houses tools like void, comp, and merge. This separation keeps the interface focused and clean, while still allowing staff to access important functions quickly. Paired with icons, the design enables faster recognition and smoother task flow.
We introduced both list view and card view to better support different staff preferences and work styles.
Problem
Staff had different needs when managing orders. While some preferred a compact list for quick scanning, others, especially those juggling multiple in-progress orders, needed more context visible. The single-format layout didn’t adapt well across roles.
Solution
Inspired by kitchen display systems (KDS), we introduced a card view to the front-of-house POS. It shows detailed info like items and quantities up front, reducing the need to open each order. Staff can now toggle between list and card views depending on their preference and role.
Key improvements
• List view for high-level scanning
• Card view for rich order context
• Flexible toggle supports different needs
• Fewer taps, faster order management
08. USER TESTING
To evaluate how intuitive the order creation and management flow felt to users, we conducted think-aloud usability tests with 6 restaurant staff. The goal was to uncover moments of confusion, hesitation, or inefficiencies that may not be obvious through design reviews alone.
Tested scenarios
• Starting a new dine-in order and optionally assigning a table
• Adding and modifying menu items
• Sending the order to the kitchen
• Tracking its progress
• Completing payment and closing the order
Tested design
Refined design
09. REFLECTION
This project wasn’t just about refining UI, it was about showing up, watching staff in action, and understanding how design affects their split-second decisions.
Winning moments
Onsite observation: Shadowing staff onsite helped us identify pain points that wouldn’t surface in remote interviews.
Optimized for real workflows: We redesigned key flows to better reflect how staff work, fast, mentally mapped, and under pressure, while keeping flexibility for different restaurant setups without forcing a rigid structure.
Consistency builds confidence: Even as we modernized the system, keeping familiar interaction patterns helped staff feel grounded.
Lessons learned
Sometimes breaking the rules works: Not every UX rule fits every context. When user preference diverged from convention, we believe that real usability > theory.
Simplicity builds confidence: Reducing friction and cognitive load had a greater impact than adding new features.
Stakeholder management: Working with a small team meant we had to make focused decisions. We listened to input from engineers, PMs, sales, and leadership, then balanced feedback carefully without losing design clarity.