NINA YU

Resume

NINA YU

Resume

NINA YU

Mobile App Design

Uniqlo Alterations

Simplifying the Waitwhile Experience

Duration

9 weeks

Tools

Figma

Team

Nina Yu, Michelle Chen, Andy Metcalf, John Gonzales

My Role

UX Designer – User research, pain point analysis, journey mapping, and low- to high-fidelity prototyping.

Challenge

Uniqlo store operations rely heavily on coordination between employees and managers. However, existing processes used disconnected tools for order tracking, communication, and task updates, leading to workflow inefficiencies, communication delays, and confusion about task ownership.

oPportunity

Redesign the internal system (Waitwhile) that unifies task tracking and communication for both employees and managers to improve visibility, accountability, and real-time collaboration in store operations.

Mobile App Design

Uniqlo Alterations

Simplifying the Waitwhile Experience

Duration

9 weeks

Tools

Figma

Team

Nina Yu, Michelle Chen, Andy Metcalf, John Gonzales

My Role

UX Designer – User research, pain point analysis, journey mapping, and low- to high-fidelity prototyping.

Challenge

oPportunity

Mobile App Design

Uniqlo Alterations

Simplifying the Waitwhile Experience

Duration

9 weeks

Tools

Figma

Team

Nina Yu, Michelle Chen, Andy Metcalf, John Gonzales

My Role

UX Designer – User research, pain point analysis, journey mapping, and low- to high-fidelity prototyping.

Challenge

oPportunity

Overview

The final dashboard supported the entire clinical workflow, from deviations to treatment:

Menu Sidebar:

Quick access to past reports for patient progression.

Gait Deviation Table:

Color-coded overview of gait issues by significance.

Diagnosis page:

Breakdown of deviations with most likely causes.

Treatment page:

Recommendations aligned with each diagnosis.

Range of Motion (ROM) + stickmen diagrams:

Gait phases visualized for easy reference.

3D muscle model:

Simplified and positioned alongside tables to provide visual anatomical context.

Stage 1: Research

problem discovery

Through on-site observations, interviews, and user testing with Uniqlo store staff and alteration specialists, we identified key breakdowns in the alteration order process that impacted both employees and customers.

Key Findings

Communication Gaps

Waitwhile doesn’t notify managers when alterations are ready, forcing staff to rely on radios. Employees also often skip enabling SMS notifications, leaving customers uninformed and causing confusion.

“We’ve learned to just call on the radio because waiting for the app to notify managers doesn’t work most of the time.”

- Uniqlo Alteration Specialist

“We’ve learned to just call on the radio because waiting for the app to notify managers doesn’t work most of the time.”

- Uniqlo Alteration Specialist

“We’ve learned to just call on the radio because waiting for the app to notify managers doesn’t work most of the time.”

- Uniqlo Alteration Specialist

“We’ve learned to just call on the radio because waiting for the app to notify managers doesn’t work most of the time.”

- Uniqlo Alteration Specialist

Order Tracking Issues

Staff struggle to retrieve older orders due to Waitwhile’s default settings, and lacked clarity on order status after submission.

“If a customer loses their order number, finding it can take forever.”

- Uniqlo Manager

“If a customer loses their order number, finding it can take forever.”

- Uniqlo Manager

“If a customer loses their order number, finding it can take forever.”

- Uniqlo Manager

“If a customer loses their order number, finding it can take forever.”

- Uniqlo Manager

Tedious Workflow

Employees spend extra time managing receipts manually, slowing down peak-time operations.

“The process works, but there are too many steps, and if one thing goes wrong, it affects the whole flow."

- Uniqlo Staff

“The process works, but there are too many steps, and if one thing goes wrong, it affects the whole flow."

- Uniqlo Staff

“The process works, but there are too many steps, and if one thing goes wrong, it affects the whole flow."

- Uniqlo Staff

“The process works, but there are too many steps, and if one thing goes wrong, it affects the whole flow."

- Uniqlo Staff

user research

Jason's Persona

John's Persona

Employees

Based on the alteration team’s frustrations with unreliable notifications and inefficient order tracking. The research revealed that staff heavily relied on radio communication instead of Waitwhile, highlighting a lack of trust in the system. His experience reflects how manual processes create bottlenecks and slow down operations.

Managers

Represents the managerial perspective, which was heavily impacted by communication breakdowns and inefficient order tracking. His persona is informed by findings that managers were not notified when orders were ready, leading to operational disruptions and customer frustration.

Competitor Analysis

While existing queue management systems offer useful features, none fully fit Uniqlo’s needs. Qminder and Qless are powerful but expensive and hard to use. Doodle is simple but lacks key features like SMS updates. Suitedash has advanced automation but is too complex for Uniqlo’s workflow. This analysis highlights the need for a simple, affordable, and efficient solution that improves communication and order tracking without unnecessary complexity.

Problem Statement

How might we streamline Uniqlo’s alteration workflow to improve communication, reduce manual tasks, and ensure both managers and customers stay informed throughout the order process?

Stage 2: Design

User FlowS + Sketches

Our two prototype flows differ in how they organize information.

Flow 1 (Prototype A) mirrors Uniqlo’s physical order arrangement, making it easier for employees to locate alterations with less cognitive effort.

Flow 2 (Prototype B) keeps the traditional list format but improves clarity by streamlining order statuses, reducing search time and simplifying the process.

User Flow 2 (Prototype A)

User Flow 2 (Prototype B)

Based on Milestone 3 findings, we identified key issues in Uniqlo UTC’s alteration process, including inefficient communication, unreliable notifications, and unclear order tracking. Staff relied on radios due to missing automatic notifications, causing delays. To fix this, we introduced a notification system that tracks order progress and visually clarifies statuses like “Pending Confirmation” and “Ready for Pickup,” reducing manual follow-ups.

Adding new alterations was also problematic, as missing SMS opt-ins left customers uninformed. To solve this, we set SMS notifications to automatically on, ensuring customers receive updates without staff having to remember to enable them.

Low Fidelity

Prototype A

Strengths:

Users liked the visual emphasis on due times, which helped prioritize urgent orders. Some specialists found the pants-based layout intuitive, as it mirrored the physical store setup. Color coding was seen as helpful for distinguishing order types.

Weaknesses:

Some found the pants icons cluttered and preferred a simpler representation. The layout worked better for new employees, but experienced staff felt it disrupted their workflow by deviating from the familiar Waitwhile system.

Prototype B

Strengths:

More familiar to existing Waitwhile users, reducing the learning curve. Users liked the "message customer" button and the simple order display, which made tracking alterations quick and efficient.

Weaknesses:

Terminology for order statuses was confusing (e.g., "Pending Confirmation" wasn’t clear). Some users suggested sorting by picked-up vs. not-picked-up items and adding a symbol for completed orders.

Stage 3: Iterate

"In Progress" Page

Early tests showed that coloring entire order blocks helped distinguish order types but caused visual clutter and distracted from key details. We replaced this with colored service tags for clearer hierarchy and faster scanning. A swipe action was also introduced to move orders through stages (Requested → In Progress → Completed), ensuring actions are intentional and consistent.

"Requested" page

Feedback from our TA, stakeholders, and peers led to several usability improvements on the Requested page:

Replaced the “Assign” text button with a icon, reducing visual clutter.
Added a swipe gesture instead of the "Progress” button to prevent accidental actions.
Reformatted order cards to emphasize waitlist times and de-emphasize internal details like customer ID.
Retained color-coded service tags rather than coloring entire orders for better visual clarity.

High Fidelity

User testing showed strengths in both earlier prototypes. We merged the structured list view of Prototype B with the enhanced visibility of Prototype A to create a more intuitive and efficient workflow.

Key Improvements

List format retained — matched users’ mental model for task tracking.
Swipe interaction added for deliberate order progression.
Backward navigation and a redo button introduced for flexibility and quality control.
Due times and order IDs emphasized to help employees prioritize without visual clutter.

Add to Alternation in Process

We redesigned the add to alteration process to improve usability and efficiency. An estimated pickup time was added to help staff manage orders more effectively. SMS notifications now default to "on" to ensure customers receive timely updates, while still allowing staff to opt out if needed. To reduce redundancy, we streamlined service details by consolidating sewing and service inputs into a single stitches information field, simplifying data entry for employees.

Requested to In-Progress
When staff click on the green assign button, they can swipe right to move the order to the in-progress phase. We also provided an undo option at the bottom to help prevent errors.

In-Progress to Completed
When users click on the green checkmark, the order is now waiting for the manager to check for quality. When managers swipe to the right, they can either confirm the order or to let the alteration redo the order.

Redo Order
When the manager clicks on redo, the order will return back to the in-progress phase and will be listed on top. When they click on “confirm”, then the order will move to the completed phase.

Stage 4: Future Directions

Current Limitations

The prototype was not connected to Uniqlo’s live systems, so data flow and performance were not tested.

Limited testing scope — feedback came from a small number of users within a single store.
Some automation features (SMS updates, notifications) were simulated, not fully implemented.

Potential SOlutions

Partner with Uniqlo’s internal dev team to integrate real-time data and automate updates.

Run pilot studies across multiple locations to gather diverse workflow insights.
Expand the app to include analytics and reporting features for managers to monitor efficiency trends.

Next steps

Conduct on-site usability testing to validate performance in real store environments.

Explore multi-device integration for employee tablets and manager desktops.
Collaborate with Uniqlo IT to assess technical feasibility for system rollout.