The Objectives
During the first semester of our third year at NU Baliwag, Me and Rochelle Sagnip led by John Mark Pongase has been tasked to re-imagine Potchito's, a local pastry shop at San Ildefonso. This task was handled by two subjects: Advanced Multimedia Systems, and Intergative Programming and Technologies hence, the following objectives:
- Re-brand Potchito's Buns x Cookies
- Develop a system that will solve the problems within the current one
I was assigned on designing the back-end as well as the branding for having the most experience in using creative tools within the group.
Rebranding
The first part of our interview with the business owner is dedicated to getting to know more about the brand. In it, we've gathered the following key points:
- the owner is a single mother
- the name "Potchito's" came from her son's name "Chito" who is diagnosed with autism.
- as of the time, they didn't have a physical store and made her products at home.
Based on the touching key points, I've come up with the following brand board:
I wanted to reflect a mother’s warmth toward her son, so I began with soft shapes, gentle tones of pink and blue, and elements that suggest home and care all while keeping the design minimal as the owner requested.
From these, I settled on Sapphire Blue (#366EB8) contrasted with Soft Blush (#FAE5E4). I used Grillages Bold for a friendly, minimal feel, and introduced simple outline icons of a home, heart, and cookie as recurring motifs —not as the logo— throughout the branding.
System-Related Problems
The second part of the interview is for knowing more about the issues with the current system. From the mentioned problems in the interview, we came up with the following goals:
- Develop a system that will unify orders from their multiple channels.
- Allowing on-site orders and
- Keep track of each transactions through reports to help them make better decisions in the future
Streamline Orders
Potchito's takes their orders from two social media platforms: Facebook and Instagram as well traditional channels like calls and SMS. Due to current limitations of these platforms at the time, there are no available technology yet that could collect orders from these platforms automatically.
To account for these limitations, we've decided to instead route customers to a more streamlined process of ordering. See, besides cookies and pastries, the owner most notably takes orders for customized cakes and this process takes a lot of time since users had to be guided about the information the owner needed to create the cake.
The website functions as a centralized platform, consolidating all customer orders in a single location for streamlined management.
For customizable products, a dedicated module has been developed that enables administrators to define items—such as cakes—along with the specific customization options available for each product. On the customer interface, these options are presented as structured form fields, guiding users to specify their preferences efficiently, thereby supporting a fully automated, self-service ordering process.
To accomodate online orders, I learned how to use the payment platform Paymongo. And learned how to use their payment gateway API in order for the system to receive online payments.
As for on-site transactions, I re-used and integrated the Point-Of-Sales system I made for my Grocery Store System project and only modifying it to accomodate for customized orders.
Presentation
To wrap production, we've closed both subjects with a trailer made by yours truly, showcasing how the system may be used.