This is an internal project for my employer, CrystalCommerce.

The core component of our online software is the ecommerce system. Business users have access to an admin where they manage all aspects of their inventory.

This started out as a feature request from the CEO, as opposed to being presented as a problem to solve.

The idea is to allow a user to snap a photo of a product with their phone’s camera, so they can quickly add it to their store’s inventory.

After adding this request to our project management system, I did a brain dump to clear my mind and aid in later research and collaboration.

Having worked at our company for over a decade, I know our clients and their challenges quite well. Many of them are busy owners of small brick and mortar shops, usually with few to no staff. In some cases, our clients have full time jobs and run their business as a side-hustle.

The root problem comes down to lack of time, so I knew I had to come up with a UX solution which was as efficient as possible.

This phone camera inventory UX was relatively straightforward. I pulled the basic mechanics of the flow from first-hand experience using various applications which access a phone camera, for example my bank app which allows me to quick-deposit a check from a photo.

I did a rough prototype at first, then gradually iterated upon it while testing repeatedly. The goal was to uncover and fix any obvious gaps in the UX and get to a decent MVP version, including only the most imperative features, which would later be presented to a few clients for some feedback.

The MVP prototype in Figma.

I then explored ideas to make the UX even better, for future releases of the feature. It was immediately apparent that the inclusion of image-recognition AI was the next step in making the experience more efficient (not to mention delightful).

For a future release, I envisioned an AI-enhanced experience.

The proposed UX is a simple and intuitive way for our users to efficiently add random physical inventory using only their smartphone.

Multiple, progressively enhanced versions of the UX are on standby for future releases.

Click the preview below to play a short demo video of the high fidelity prototype. This version is the AI-enhanced experience.

Click the preview below to play a short demo video of the MVP version of this experience.