PRINT ON DEMAND

CONTEXT

Designed a mobile app that aims to reduce missed orders and cut delivery coordination time in half; enabling over 120 print partners across Africa to manage printing jobs more efficiently. As part of a broader effort to expand PrintEasy’s operational ecosystem, a mobile app was added to support the company’s growing network of printing partners. These partners, often managing dozens of orders per week, lacked a unified interface to receive, review, and track incoming print jobs. The objective was to create a mobile tool that seamlessly connected with the PrintEasy business platform, enabling print partners to manage order updates, delivery times, and business information efficiently and on the go.

OBJECTIVE

Design a mobile-first application that would allow PrintEasy's printing partners to: 1. Receive real-time notifications for new print orders 2. Review and accept orders through an intuitive UI 3. Update delivery time estimates and order statuses 4. Access their business profile and manage core settings 5. Visualise pending and reviewed orders at a glance The focus was on creating a system that was lightweight, responsive, and optimized for quick decision-making.

APPROACH

The project began with a rapid discovery sprint. Interviews with a handful of active print partners revealed three primary pain points: slow manual coordination, lack of notification systems, and the absence of a mobile-friendly dashboard. Based on these insights, a minimal but action-focused interface was developed. Information architecture was simplified into two core navigational tabs: Review : for pending orders Reviewed : for completed or acknowledged orders The above tab were renamed to 'Incoming' and 'In-Progress' for better clarity to Print Partners, after preliminary testing. The decision to split these interactions was aimed at minimizing clutter and improving mental load for partners who often operate in fast-paced environments like small print shops or warehouses.

Target Audience

1. PrintEasy’s partner app is designed for small and medium-sized print businesses (SMEs & micro-enterprises) across Nigeria and West Africa, including: Local t‑shirt print shops, Promotional-material suppliers (banners, mugs, posters) and Independent designers offering short-run custom prints 2 Potential partners typically operate in urban Nigeria, with 9.9 thousand printing presses reported nationwide in 2024, a 7.5% share of total African press installations. With nearly 160 million Internet users in Nigeria by early 2022, over 80% accessing via mobile devices * 3. The app needed to support mobile-first experiences optimized for low-bandwidth environments.* 4. Despite only about 0.2% of global Print‑On‑Demand stores operating in Africa, the MEA POD market is projected to grow at a 21.8% CAGR, reaching US$1.3B by 2030* This growth trajectory justified building a scalable and locally relevant partner app.

Important Stats

To validate key product decisions, a survey was conducted in Q1 2024 with 112 printing partners between the ages of 26 and 45 across Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, and Kano. The survey was used to define priorities in usability, functionality, and visual layout

Why these demographics and insights shaped design

1. Mobile ubiquity: With Nigeria accounting for nearly 30% of Africa’s internet usage, and mobile devices being the dominant access point, the interface was optimized primarily for smartphones* 2. Digital printing surge: Africa's digital inkjet and laser printing demand continues to rise. Print‑on‑demand is gaining traction as traditional print declines. Nigeria is one of 12 African countries leading adoption of digital print workflows* 3. Regional market opportunity: The POD market in Africa represented just 4.3% of global volume in 2023, but with projected rapid growth, PrintEasy aimed to enter early and serve this emerging B2B printing segment* 4. User simplicity: Survey results indicated overwhelming demand for a 'minimal' interface for fast order scanning. Decision-makers needed clarity and speed, not overwhelming UI, especially catering for audience with different range of tech savviness*

User journey

This research guided the app’s design priorities: immediate order visibility on the home screen, minimal clutter, mobile-first responsiveness, and a lightweight analytics feature that highlights top-selling products rather than complex graphs.

Design

A card-based layout was adopted to present individual orders clearly. Each order card included: 1. Order number 2. Print specifications (e.g., quantity, colors, materials) 3. Visual status indicators (Pending, Accepted, Reviewed) 4. CTA: “Accept Order”

Design 2

Once an order was accepted, the partner was prompted to select an estimated delivery timeframe. A micro-interaction was implemented for this, allowing quick selection from predefined time slots (for instance, same-day, 1 day, 2 days). This ensured consistency and reduced manual input errors. The business profile section allowed for syncing registered details automatically from the PrintEasy backend, while still offering editability; crucial for contact updates, print capabilities, and location changes. To maintain real-time responsiveness, the app was built with push notification capabilities for key triggers like: "A new order just came in!" "Delivery time update needed" "Profile verification pending"

Analytics

To help printing partners track performance and make informed business decisions, a dedicated Analytics section was introduced in the Settings screen. This module displays essential business insights in a simple, mobile-friendly format. Based on survey findings, 67% of respondents indicated that seeing their top-selling products was their most valuable metric. Others valued insights such as: a. Orders fulfilled this week/month (preferred by 88%) b. Pending vs. completed orders breakdown (preferred by 48%) c. Average delivery time per order (preferred by 37%) These metrics are visualized through compact cards and trend lines for clarity on smaller screens. No complex charts; just the numbers that matter. In future updates, a comparative view and export options are planned, as 45% of users expressed interest in exporting analytics to Excel or PDF for offline reporting.

Extra: Design System

Extra: Design System

References

https://www.indexbox.io/blog/printing-press-africa-market-overview-2024-1/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_in_Nigeria https://dodropshipping.com/print-on-demand-statistics/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_in_Nigeria https://enter-africa.com/blogs/news/printing-industry-africa-printers-and-equipment-in-high-demand https://www.grandviewresearch.com/horizon/outlook/print-on-demand-market/mea