Can a smartphone be used as a Point of Sale (POS)?
Summary: In a project lasting just 14 days, I discovered and validated with real people how improving accessibility in a mobile POS (Point of Sale) can impact adoption , proposing a redesign focused on readability and a more human experience.
🏆 Impact and Achievements
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Product strategy alignment and improvement
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Accessibility and usability optimization
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Practical validation of product and design strategies
Unveiling the Countertop Experience
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Project Duration: 14 Days (Ad-hoc Contract)
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My Role: UX/UI Designer
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Context: A project focused on optimizing the experience of a digital Point of Sale (POS) system running on smartphones, directly within physical retail stores.
The Invisible and the Intimidating: 2 real problems in the User Journey
I was challenged to rethink the screen of a mobile POS. My initial immersion involved observing the real-world scenario, and what I saw raised a red flag: the cell phone running the POS was "hidden" among other products on the counter. This made me wonder: if even digital banners suffer from "banner blindness," could a physical POS be similarly overlooked? Furthermore, according to the recognition heuristic, users expect crucial information to be within their eye-level field of view, like classic screens at supermarket checkouts, not hidden on a waist-high counter.
One of the most critical points was the low visual accessibility. The original font was tiny, with sizes ranging from 10px to 12px. Considering that these fonts are designed for the personal reading distance of a smartphone held in hand, it was evident that, at a normal POS distance, legibility was practically impossible. To read the content on screen, one would certainly need to get very close to the device (and bend their back to look down). Comfortable legibility is fundamental for everyone, especially for those with visual impairments or who are viewing from a greater distance.
The purchasing journey in a physical store is, by nature, hurried and pragmatic, and every second of reading difficulty translated into friction. Furthermore, there was a probable psychological barrier: a smartphone is a personal item, and the idea of touching someone else's device to interact with the POS could intimidate customers, affecting participation in satisfaction surveys or the simple verification of items.
The Field Test: Validating my critical vision before prototyping
With this critical vision consolidated, I needed to validate one of my main premises regarding accessibility and legibility. The opportunity arose in an unusual way:
During my apartment inspection, I positioned my cell phone more than a meter away and asked the person responsible for the inspection to read a text with the font size I was considering. Despite her having some degree of myopia, the reading was clear and effortless! This informal, yet real, test was crucial for giving me confidence in my approach before diving into prototyping.
My vision wasn't just theoretical; it was applicable and tested under conditions similar to real-world use.
My strategy: Transforming the POS into a connection point
With the clarity that the POS needed to be more than just a device on the counter — it needed to be a visual invitation and a supporting tool for the customer — I delved deep to design a solution that would truly make a difference. The main objective was clear: the customer needed to see and understand what they were buying, effortlessly.
I envisioned the scenario: the cell phone, which was once just thrown aside or nearly hidden, would now come alive. My first idea was to elevate it. I thought: why not place the cell phone on a tripod, at the customer's eye level? This way, the POS would become an active part of the experience, something the customer would truly notice (just like a screen at a supermarket checkout) and could even interact with.
But simply raising the device wasn't enough; the information on the screen needed to jump out at you. I remembered the problem of tiny fonts and cut-off texts. The solution for the header? Moving marquees with much larger fonts. This way, the entire text could be displayed completely and dynamically, grabbing the attention of passersby. It was like having a mini-billboard just for the customer.
For the product list, the idea was to maintain the normal structure, but with significantly larger fonts to facilitate reading (a size validated in the test mentioned earlier). And to avoid overwhelming the screen and losing space, I decided that the product list wouldn't need images (yes, the original project still had the product's image next to its name). What really mattered there was the product name, price, quantity, and discount. The images could be kept for the right moment.
Oh, and the right moment was this: as soon as the barcode reader scanned the product, its image would appear full-screen for a few seconds. It was a quick visual touch, an instant recognition of the item, without diverting focus from the essentials.
Agility and Impact: Humanizing the mobile point of sale in 14 days
This project, completed in just 14 days, highlights my approach: with agility and proactivity in complex scenarios. My work focused on humanizing technology, ensuring that the user experience would be fluid and comfortable. The knowledge generated and the proposed solutions aimed to transform a friction-filled POS into a more humanly effective tool, capable of ensuring greater user satisfaction, strengthening the brand, and contributing to business scalability. I conducted two excellent presentations and a detailed meeting with the developers, transferring all the necessary knowledge for this vision to potentially be realized.