Edge

I defined the product experience for Edge, a bilingual e-commerce portal built in 8 weeks for a global petrochemical giant. The product, delivered on time and over scope, focused on modern shopping, forecasting, and railcar tracking. It processed $15 million in revenue within six months of launch.

Seeing results

$15M

Revenue (first 6 months)

300+

Transactions (first 6 months)

Delivery

Challenge

Replacing fragmented, manual workflows

The client required a modern digital sales channel to replace fragmented, manual ordering, forecasting, and tracking processes. The core challenge was delivering a functional, high-value e-commerce solution under an aggressive 8-week launch deadline.

Divergence

Uncovering three core user needs

Interviews and testing revealed three key needs: rich filtering for product discovery, a familiar Excel-style interface for complex forecasting, and real-time railcar transparency. These insights dictated the core product functionality.

Ideation

Designing fast with purposeful constraints

I rapidly created the UX construct and UI toolkit (Sketch, Illustrator). I implemented a property-based search and designed the Excel-inspired forecasting tool. Close collaboration with engineering ensured strategic design compromises to meet the tight deadline.

Convergence

Validating what users truly prefer

Interactive prototypes validated the user preference for the native numeric keypad and the spreadsheet-style forecasting. Post-launch, I designed an advanced Marketplace prototype (auctioning, credit) to guide the client's future product roadmap.

Conducting initial concept testing with customers

Solution

A streamlined, bilingual commerce platform

The bilingual portal provided a flexible Search/Filter tool, an efficient forecasting interface, and integrated railcar tracking. The subsequent Marketplace concept was built modularly atop the initial structure.

We launched a product that allows users to filter through material properties to find specific metals that they're looking for called MatMatch. We leveraged the findings from that team to implement a highly flexible Search/Filter tool that essentially allows users to input ranges of material properties to be added to search results.

Outcome

Launched fast, delivered massive value

The product processed 300+ transactions totaling $15 million in revenue in 6 months. It was recognized by Venture Leadership for being delivered on time, under budget, and over scope, and the C-Suite commissioned further strategic design work.

Takeaways

Adoption begins with user comfort

The primary lesson was the importance of embracing user comfort (e.g., the Excel interface) to drive rapid adoption, proving that user-centricity can accelerate delivery in complex industries.

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