Yangisha KC

Case Studies

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Connect with me

Yangisha KC

Case Studies

Resume

Connect with me

Yangisha KC

Case Studies

Resume

Connect with me

Designing a Research Driven Loyalty App for Real-World Users

Lollet is a digital loyalty stamp app created to help small and modern businesses move away from traditional paper punch cards. Through a simple QR code system, customers can easily collect stamps and redeem rewards, while business owners can set up custom offers, track usage, and manage their loyalty programs with greater flexibility. I was responsible for the end-to-end UX research and UI design, focusing on making the experience intuitive, engaging, and adaptable for both customers and business owners.

Challenge

Modern businesses often rely on paper loyalty cards, which get lost, can’t be tracked, and don’t offer any business insights. Customers forget to carry them, and business owners have no data on usage. There is an opportunity to create a lightweight, easy-to-use digital alternative.


My Role

I handled both the research and design sides of the project:

  • Conducted interviews and synthesized insights

  • Created personas and journey maps

  • Designed user flows, wireframes, and high-fidelity UI in Figma

  • Validated decisions with mock survey and structured methods

    Tool Used: Figma, Miro, Google Forms, Notion, Tableau

Results & Reflection

At the end of the project, I reflected on what worked well and what I learned. This helped solidify my approach as both a UX researcher and designer, and clarified how research driven design can lead to more meaningful products.

  • Interviewing both users and owners gave valuable dual insights

  • Visual simplicity matters more than feature overload

  • Research led decisions shaped the app’s structure, navigation, and interface

  • This project sharpened my ability to move from raw insights to functional and engaging UX/UI


User Reseacrh



To design a product that truly meets user needs, I started by understanding the behaviors, pain points, and goals of both small business owners and their customers. This research phase laid the foundation for every design decision that followed.

Goal: Understand how users and business owners think about loyalty programs and what they want from a digital version.

1. Informal Interviews

  • 6 people (4 business owners, 2 regular customers)

  • Questions focused on their current experience, frustrations, and ideal loyalty tools

    Some of the key questions I explored:

    • How do customers feel about physical stamp cards?

    • What motivates them to return to a business?

    • What features would make a digital loyalty app more useful for both sides?

    Insights:

    • People lose or forget paper cards

    • Customers want to see their stamp progress

    • Owners want something easy to use and aligned with their brand

These conversations helped lay the groundwork for the feature set and informed my design priorities.


2. Quantitative Validation

  • To validate the patterns uncovered during interviews, I conducted a 6 question survey using Google Forms with 13 real participants, a mix of small business owners and loyal customers.

  • The goal was to explore user behavior, preferences, and expectations around loyalty tools , specifically what would motivate them to engage with a digital system.The survey focused on app preferences, importance of specific features, and user behavior around loyalty tools.

    Some of the key questions I explored:

    • How often do you use loyalty cards at small businesses?

    • Have you ever lost or forgotten a paper loyalty card?

    • What type of reward motivates you the most?

    • Would you prefer a digital loyalty app over a physical card?

    • What would make you most likely to use a digital loyalty app?

    • Which features matter most to you? (e.g., QR code, visual progress, reward system, reminders)

      Insights:

    • 11 out of 13 respondents selected Visual Progress Bar as a key feature

    • 10 out of 13 preferred having QR Code Scanning for fast, easy interaction

    • 8 out of 13 chose Reward Reminders to help them stay on track

    • 4 out of 13 mentioned Custom Branding, especially relevant for business owners.


User Research

To design a product that truly meets user needs, I started by understanding the behaviors, pain points, and goals of both small business owners and their customers. This research phase laid the foundation for every design decision that followed.

Goal: Understand how users and business owners think about loyalty programs and what they want from a digital version.


1. Informal Interviews

  • 6 people (4 business owners, 2 regular customers)

  • Questions focused on their current experience, frustrations, and ideal loyalty tools

Some of the key questions I explored:

  • How do customers feel about physical stamp cards?

  • What motivates them to return to a business?

  • What features would make a digital loyalty app more useful for both sides?

    Insights:

    • People lose or forget paper cards

    • Customers want to see their stamp progress

    • Owners want something easy to use and aligned with their brand

These conversations helped lay the groundwork for the feature set and informed my design priorities.


2. Quantitative Validation (Survey with 4 Participants)

  • I conducted an 8 question survey with 4 real participants (a mix of small business owners and customers) to validate the patterns identified in the interviews.

  • The survey focused on app preferences, importance of specific features, and user behavior around loyalty tools.



User Research

To design a product that truly meets user needs, I started by understanding the behaviors, pain points, and goals of both small business owners and their customers. This research phase laid the foundation for every design decision that followed.

Goal: Understand how users and business owners think about loyalty programs and what they want from a digital version.


1. Informal Interviews

  • 6 people (4 business owners, 2 regular customers)

  • Questions focused on their current experience, frustrations, and ideal loyalty tools

Some of the key questions I explored:

  • How do customers feel about physical stamp cards?

  • What motivates them to return to a business?

  • What features would make a digital loyalty app more useful for both sides?

    Insights:

    • People lose or forget paper cards

    • Customers want to see their stamp progress

    • Owners want something easy to use and aligned with their brand

These conversations helped lay the groundwork for the feature set and informed my design priorities.


2. Quantitative Validation (Survey with 4 Participants)

  • I conducted an 8 question survey with 4 real participants (a mix of small business owners and customers) to validate the patterns identified in the interviews.

  • The survey focused on app preferences, importance of specific features, and user behavior around loyalty tools.



3. Affinity Mapping: Organizing Early Insights

After speaking with small business owners and potential users, I created an Affinity Map to synthesize early stage feedback. Since the app was still in its concept phase, the goal was to understand user expectations, frustrations and what they’d hope to see in a digital solution.


4. Empathy Mapping

Before moving into personas and user flows, I created empathy maps to better understand the emotional and behavioral context of my users. While interviews and surveys revealed what users said or did, empathy mapping helped me visualize what they were thinking and feeling, their motivations, fears, and expectations beneath the surface. This method was especially valuable in a concept-stage project like Lollet, where anticipating user reactions was key to designing intuitive, trust-building experiences. It also grounded my design decisions in human needs rather than assumptions, keeping the user at the center of every interaction I created.



5. User Personas

After organizing insights from interviews, surveys, and empathy mapping, I created these personas to represent Lollet’s two key user types: loyal customers and small business owners. While empathy mapping helped me understand user emotions and behaviors, personas allowed me to translate that into practical design guidance. Each persona gave a face and voice to user needs, frustrations, and expectations helping me prioritize features, design flows, and tailor the interface for both ends of the user journey. Throughout the project, these personas acted as constant reminders to keep the product grounded in real, relatable user stories.



5. User Personas

After organizing insights from interviews, surveys, and empathy mapping, I created these personas to represent Lollet’s two key user types: loyal customers and small business owners. While empathy mapping helped me understand user emotions and behaviors, personas allowed me to translate that into practical design guidance. Each persona gave a face and voice to user needs, frustrations, and expectations helping me prioritize features, design flows, and tailor the interface for both ends of the user journey. Throughout the project, these personas acted as constant reminders to keep the product grounded in real, relatable user stories.



5. User Personas

After organizing insights from interviews, surveys, and empathy mapping, I created these personas to represent Lollet’s two key user types: loyal customers and small business owners. While empathy mapping helped me understand user emotions and behaviors, personas allowed me to translate that into practical design guidance. Each persona gave a face and voice to user needs, frustrations, and expectations helping me prioritize features, design flows, and tailor the interface for both ends of the user journey. Throughout the project, these personas acted as constant reminders to keep the product grounded in real, relatable user stories.



6. User Journey

After developing empathy maps and user personas, I created user journey maps to visualize how each user type would interact with Lollet from start to finish. These maps helped me break down each stage of the experience from discovering the app to redeeming a reward while identifying user goals, emotions, pain points, and opportunities along the way. Mapping both the customer and business owner journeys ensured that every design decision addressed real needs and moments of friction. This step also helped me think beyond screens and features, focusing on the overall experience and the small moments that shape trust and engagement.



6. User Journey

After developing empathy maps and user personas, I created user journey maps to visualize how each user type would interact with Lollet from start to finish. These maps helped me break down each stage of the experience from discovering the app to redeeming a reward while identifying user goals, emotions, pain points, and opportunities along the way. Mapping both the customer and business owner journeys ensured that every design decision addressed real needs and moments of friction. This step also helped me think beyond screens and features, focusing on the overall experience and the small moments that shape trust and engagement.



6. User Journey

After developing empathy maps and user personas, I created user journey maps to visualize how each user type would interact with Lollet from start to finish. These maps helped me break down each stage of the experience from discovering the app to redeeming a reward while identifying user goals, emotions, pain points, and opportunities along the way. Mapping both the customer and business owner journeys ensured that every design decision addressed real needs and moments of friction. This step also helped me think beyond screens and features, focusing on the overall experience and the small moments that shape trust and engagement.



Visual Design


Moodboard & Visual Direction

We started with a moodboard to help us get a clear sense of the visual direction before jumping into design. Since this was a loyalty app, we wanted the overall vibe to feel inviting, trustworthy, and a little bit fun, something users would enjoy using regularly without it feeling overly complicated or corporate.

We pulled together inspiration from loyalty apps, clean UI patterns, and some playful stamp or badge visuals. We kept the typography simple and the style minimal so the interface wouldn’t feel cluttered. We also added a few touches, like progress indicators and checkmarks to give users a small sense of celebration each time they earned a stamp or got closer to a reward.

Creating the moodboard really helped us stay aligned with the tone we wanted to set throughout the design friendly, clear, and rewarding.



Visual Design


Moodboard & Visual Direction

We started with a moodboard to help us get a clear sense of the visual direction before jumping into design. Since this was a loyalty app, we wanted the overall vibe to feel inviting, trustworthy, and a little bit fun, something users would enjoy using regularly without it feeling overly complicated or corporate.

We pulled together inspiration from loyalty apps, clean UI patterns, and some playful stamp or badge visuals. We kept the typography simple and the style minimal so the interface wouldn’t feel cluttered. We also added a few touches, like progress indicators and checkmarks to give users a small sense of celebration each time they earned a stamp or got closer to a reward.

Creating the moodboard really helped us stay aligned with the tone we wanted to set throughout the design friendly, clear, and rewarding.



Visual Design


Moodboard & Visual Direction

We started with a moodboard to help us get a clear sense of the visual direction before jumping into design. Since this was a loyalty app, we wanted the overall vibe to feel inviting, trustworthy, and a little bit fun, something users would enjoy using regularly without it feeling overly complicated or corporate.

We pulled together inspiration from loyalty apps, clean UI patterns, and some playful stamp or badge visuals. We kept the typography simple and the style minimal so the interface wouldn’t feel cluttered. We also added a few touches, like progress indicators and checkmarks to give users a small sense of celebration each time they earned a stamp or got closer to a reward.

Creating the moodboard really helped us stay aligned with the tone we wanted to set throughout the design friendly, clear, and rewarding.



Wireframing & UI Design

To bring the experience to life, I started by creating low and mid-fidelity wireframes to map out the app’s structure, user flows, and navigation. This helped me focus on layout and usability early on, while staying flexible for quick iterations based on feedback.

Once the core flows were validated, I moved into high-fidelity screen design applying branding, visual hierarchy, and interaction cues. Instead of showing every screen, I’ve highlighted a few key designs that represent important user moments and showcase the rationale behind core interface decisions.

Each screen was shaped by real user insights and business goals, with a focus on making the app feel simple, familiar, and brand aligned for both customers and business owners.


Wireframing & UI Design

To bring the experience to life, I started by creating low and mid-fidelity wireframes to map out the app’s structure, user flows, and navigation. This helped me focus on layout and usability early on, while staying flexible for quick iterations based on feedback.

Once the core flows were validated, I moved into high-fidelity screen design applying branding, visual hierarchy, and interaction cues. Instead of showing every screen, I’ve highlighted a few key designs that represent important user moments and showcase the rationale behind core interface decisions.

Each screen was shaped by real user insights and business goals, with a focus on making the app feel simple, familiar, and brand aligned for both customers and business owners.


Wireframing & UI Design

To bring the experience to life, I started by creating low and mid-fidelity wireframes to map out the app’s structure, user flows, and navigation. This helped me focus on layout and usability early on, while staying flexible for quick iterations based on feedback.

Once the core flows were validated, I moved into high-fidelity screen design applying branding, visual hierarchy, and interaction cues. Instead of showing every screen, I’ve highlighted a few key designs that represent important user moments and showcase the rationale behind core interface decisions.

Each screen was shaped by real user insights and business goals, with a focus on making the app feel simple, familiar, and brand aligned for both customers and business owners.


Usability Testing

To validate our design, we partnered with several local businesses and invited them to use our loyalty cards collector app in real world settings. This hands on testing allowed us to observe how business owners and their customers interacted with the app during daily operations. The diverse feedback we received highlighted key areas for improvement, from usability tweaks to feature enhancements. We then incorporated these insights into the design, ensuring the app not only meets business needs but also delivers a seamless and enjoyable experience for users.


Conclusion

Working on Lollet taught me a lot about what it really means to design for people not just in theory, but in practice. I started out thinking it would be all about clean screens and smooth flows, but what I really learned was how important it is to listen. Business owners didn’t want something complex, they wanted something they could trust and make their own. Customers just wanted something fast, familiar, and easy.

Throughout this project, I learned how to turn vague feedback into clear design decisions, how to prioritize what matters, and how to balance simplicity with functionality. It also pushed me to be more confident in combining research with intuition and to always design with context in mind.

Lollet is now live and in use, and while there's always room to improve, it's rewarding to know that something I helped build is making real experiences a little better.

Yangisha KC

yangishaa@gmail.com

Yangisha KC

yangishaa@gmail.com

Yangisha KC

yangishaa@gmail.com