Agora Printing Website
Agora Print is a printing company that offers a wide range of customizable products—from paper materials and merchandise to clothing and specialty items. Their mission is to provide high-quality, comprehensive printing solutions for both businesses and individual customers.
The goal of this project was to design and launch a fully functional, visually appealing e-commerce website that would allow users to easily browse, customize, and order products online. In addition, we were tasked with creating an internal dashboard to help the client manage orders and track deliveries efficiently.
As the Design Lead, I was responsible for managing the project timeline, setting clear goals, and overseeing the design quality throughout the process. I contributed heavily to the UI and visual design work, established the style guide, and participated in user interviews. I also led team discussions—especially when design directions differed—to ensure decisions aligned with both user needs and business goals.
Since this was a real client-facing project, time management was critical. Unlike typical school assignments, we couldn’t afford to leave anything unfinished. While some team members were eager to continue with usability testing or polish design details, I had to make firm calls to meet our deadline. Balancing collaboration with accountability was one of my biggest challenges—and biggest learning moments—during this project.
Tools
Figma
Photoshop
Framer
Role
Design leader
Combines UX and UI works to ensure both the experience and interface are cohesive, functional, and user-friendly.
Timeline
Overall: 7+ weeks
Agora
Printing
Team Work
Sena - Design Lead
Rodolfo - UIUX Designer
Patrick - UI Designer
Seina _ UX Researcher
Project Timeline
Research
Strategy
Design
Phase 1: Discovery and research
Why- What is the goal?
Build a responsive, user-friendly e-commerce platform.
Enable seamless product customization and order management.
Create a visually engaging website aligned with Agora Printing’s branding.
Who- Are you designing for?
Business companies
Individual
📋 Context
The challenge we faced in this project was to complete a fully structured E-commerce website within seven weeks, from sketch to fully functional website. This included a user-friendly Dashboard function design and a clear presentation of the entire payment system so that users could use the website for a smooth and intuitive user experience.
🔍 Finding the problem
I analyzed the challenges people might face when navigating a printing website. My primary focus was to identify usability obstacles, prioritize user needs, and streamline the overall experience. Additionally, I needed to ensure that our design process aligned with the client’s expectations within the project timeline. This raised key questions: How can we optimize the user flow to reduce friction? How can we enhance efficiency while maintaining a seamless ordering process? Most importantly, how can we balance user needs with business objectives to deliver a solution that is both intuitive and scalable?
🎯 Business Goals
Launch a user-friendly e-commerce platform tailored for customizable printing services
Streamline the customer journey from product browsing to checkout
Increase online visibility and brand awareness in the competitive print market
Improve customer satisfaction and encourage repeat business through ease of use
Implement an efficient admin panel for order and product management
🎤 User Interview
Early user research shaped the Agora printing website by identifying pain points and prioritizing features. User personas guided design, while card sorting and tree testing optimized navigation for intuitive product discovery.
Aligning categories with users’ mental models reduced friction and improved usability. These insights addressed key issues like unclear navigation and inefficient workflows, resulting in a seamless, user-friendly experience that enhances engagement and satisfaction.
K.Z
💰 Pricing Expectations:
Visible pricing by quantity
Avoid “Request a Quote” steps
Real-time price updates during customization
T.K
🧭 User Experience:
Easy navigation & clear product categories
Logical grouping with filters (size, material, etc.)
Non-technical, user-friendly labels
👤 User Persona
Taro Kudo
Marketer, Freelancer
36
Vancouver, BC
🙎 Bio:
He sometimes use printing services from companies for posters, banners, business cards and so on.
For these situations, he is required to have high-quality printed products so that he can provide his own services and potentially gain client retention by providing an excellent and professional final product.
😫 Pain Points:
For websites:
He struggles to find the options that he wants, since instructions or categorization for products are unclear (language barrier)
Spends extra time asking for custom sizes and modifying his design to fit the specific printing he wants
Limited communication methods
Limited ability to customize and visualize products.
😉 Needs:
Excellent quality printed products (Mainly stuff he can’t print by himself)
Sample to check the material
A website that:
Is easy to navigate (so he doesn’t have a hard time learning how to use it)
Lets him adjust or customize his designs in real time
Says the price for everything up-front
Above-average customer service (via multiple communication options)
Know roughly what time it will arrive
📋 Competitors Analysis
Analyzing Staples, LASERSHARP Print, and VistaPrint provided key insights into industry standards, user expectations, and market gaps. By evaluating their strengths, weaknesses, and UX patterns, we identified opportunities to enhance Agora’s design. This helped us refine navigation, product organization, and service offerings to create a more intuitive, user-friendly, and competitive printing website. Understanding competitors’ best practices and pain points ensured we designed a solution that addresses user frustrations while differentiating our platform.
About Staples
Staples Printing offers a wide range of customizable print products with same-day pickup for select items. It provides templates, bulk ordering, and professional finishing but can feel overwhelming due to its complex navigation. Ideal for businesses needing fast, reliable printing solutions.
Observations & Key Features
Key Features
Wide Range of Print
Products
Same-Day Pickup &
In-Store Printing
Customizable Templates
& Design Services
Cluttered &
Overwhelming UI
Layout
Staples Printing offers comprehensive features but lacks simplicity. The navigation and product pages could be more intuitive to enhance user experience.
Market Position
Staples Printing holds a strong market position as a trusted, fast, and accessible printing service, but faces challenges from more affordable and design-flexible online competitors.
UX Design
Staples Printing offers a functional but complex UX. While it provides robust features and product variety, the overloaded UI, dense text, and lengthy process may hinder usability.
About Company
VistaPrint is a well-established online printing service known for its extensive range of customizable products, user-friendly design tools, and competitive pricing.
Observations & Key Features
Key Features
User-Friendly
Design Tools
Affordable Pricing
Product Previews
Hidden Shipping Costs
Layout
VistaPrint has a clean layout, intuitive tools, and clear navigation, but hidden shipping costs, basic design features, and limited material details could be improved.
Market Position
VistaPrint dominates the affordable online printing market, making it ideal for small businesses and budget-conscious users, but lacks same-day service and premium design flexibility.
UX Design
VistaPrint offers a smooth, user-friendly UX with intuitive design tools and clear navigation, but hidden shipping fees, limited material details, and basic customization options could be improved.
Research
Strategy
Design
Phase 2: Strategy & Problem Definition
How might we solve the
pain points?
Intuitive and clear Navbar: To reduce the bounce rate, I have to make the product category fit most people's mental models.
Card sorting and Tree testing: We had 8 testers attend the card sorting and tree testing test. In the end, we got the category of all of the products, and most people can find them.
What features can we design/ build?
Add the “Quick Print” feature :
Make it clearer for the user to understand “what is the quick print” and the files they can upload.Add a Prominent "Search Bar" :
Use UX method Card Sorting and Tree testing to find the best category for the user approach. Redesign the store page so users can easily find games by category.
Add a “Dashboard” feature :
Helps customers save time, especially for recurring needs.
✅ Developing the strategy: Solving the Problem
This will achieve three goals:
1. Help users to find their printing items with a transparent navigation bar within 20 seconds. ➡️ Reduce Bounce Rate.
Guid users to print the items (to use the product) as soon as possible.
Create a Dashboard to let users organize their orders and check the delivery. This will help customers save time, especially for recurring needs.
Research
Strategy
Design
Phase 3: Design & Ideation
✍️ Explore, sketch, wireframe,
Have fun!
💭 Do a mini brainstorming session.
⛳ Start drafting your user journeys,
CJMs.
📊 If useful, create a task model.
⛳ Feature
Intuitive
Simple nav
Famous tool
Enough
information
Dashboard
🎈Journey
Open the
website
Neutral
Easy to find
a product
Overwhelmed
Easy
to design
Frustrated
Prevent from mistakes
Careful
Ability
to manage
Excited
🔅 Flow
Open
the website
Search
a product
Customize
design
Setting the order details
Place the order and track it
Wireframe
Wireframing is a crucial step in UX design that helps visualize a website’s structure and functionality before development. If you're checking the wireframe, please try to conduct these three tasks.
Task-1
You are a student looking for a job and need to print your resume.
It must be printed on A4 paper within 3 days.
Please place the order.
Task-2
You are working as a marketer and need to print a poster.
Please create the design and Add to Cart.
Task-3
You are a marketer and were asked to create a USB design for your company’s employees as an annual gift. You don't have any design ideas, so you decide to ask the company to create it for you. Please contact the company and request the design.
Usability Testing by User Interview
After creating the wireframe, we conducted user interviews to ensure clarity and usability. Our focus was to verify whether users could easily navigate the Navbar categories, understand the "Quick Print" feature, and find the contact options for Agora’s "Design Service."
Agora Printing usibility interviews report
Jan 2025
8 interviews were
conducted:
User Feedback from Wireframe
Quick Print
Clarify "Quick Print" so users easily understand its purpose and the types of files they can upload.
Shopping Cart
Make the pricing, payment methods, and delivery process more intuitive so users can easily understand them at a glance.
Intuitive
72%
Design itself is intuitive, we ONLY needed to change some text
Navigate satisfaction
85%
Most people feel easy to navigate
Task completion rate
100%
Everyone completed the task (some users didn’t have printing experience)
Design Foundation
To ensure consistency and efficiency across the product, I developed a lightweight design system including style foundations and reusable components. This supported faster iterations and developer handoff while maintaining brand alignment.
🧭 Style Guide
Color palette
Selected for brand tone and accessibility
Typography
Hierarchy that supports readability and style
Spacing & Grid
Built for alignment and responsive behavior
Icons
Enhance user comprehension and reduce cognitive load
🛠️ Component Library
Modular UI components (buttons, inputs, cards, etc.) were created to ensure reusable design patterns and development handoff clarity.
• Built and named with intuitive logic
• Considered hover/active/focus states
• Variants for mobile and desktop
Outcomes & Results
Here, the outcomes and achievements of the project are highlighted, including user feedback and adoption rates.
🚀 Increased Efficiency
• Delivered a fully functional e-commerce website and admin dashboard within a 7-week timeline
• Streamlined the user flow, allowing users to place print orders in under 3 clicks
• Simplified backend management (CMS System), reducing time spent processing orders
💬 Positive User Feedback
• Achieved a 100% task completion rate in usability testing, even among first-time users
• Scored 85% satisfaction in navigation ease
• Users found the interface intuitive, requiring only minimal text clarification
🤝 Client Satisfaction
• Successfully aligned with Agora’s core values: Customization, Quality, and Convenience
• Met all functional and design expectations, receiving strong positive feedback from the client
• Helped Agora establish a more accessible and competitive digital presence in the printing market
🌱 Personal Reflection
As the Design Lead on this project, I was responsible for managing the timeline, setting clear design goals, and maintaining the quality of deliverables across every stage. I contributed significantly to the UI and visual design, developed the style guide, and conducted user interviews to ensure our decisions were rooted in real user needs. I also led team discussions—especially when opinions diverged—to guide us toward solutions that balanced user experience with business priorities.
Since this was a real client-facing project, time management was crucial. Unlike school assignments, we couldn’t afford to leave anything unfinished. There were moments when team members wanted to refine the design further or continue testing, but I had to make tough decisions to keep us on track. Finding the right balance between collaboration and accountability became one of my greatest challenges—and also one of my most valuable lessons.
I also chose to step out of my comfort zone by building the live website in Framer, a tool I wasn’t familiar with at the time. It was a steep learning curve, but I love projects that push me to grow. This experience reminded me that design isn’t just about aesthetics—it’s about adaptability, leadership, and creating meaningful solutions under real-world constraints.
