Zay - Product Designer

Designing for Suppliers

This case study showcase the 0-1 product initiatives, going from conceptualisation to delivery in order to demonstrate strategic impact of the Supplier user in Podium platform, contributed to securing $5M in Series A funding from Schindler.

The Challenge

Podium's vision was to connect supplier products directly into architectural design in real time. But suppliers had no way to participate. Their product data lived in isolated catalogues and static PDFs, completely disconnected from where architects actually made decisions.

The question: How do we bring suppliers upstream into the building design process — and make it valuable for everyone involved?

My Role

I was the sole designer on the Supplier squad, working alongside a product manager and computation designer, shipping end-to-end from discovery through to development-ready designs.

The Process

Laying the Foundation

Before anything else, suppliers needed a way to onboard, manage their company, and upload product data — essentially a content management system for the built environment.

With no dedicated design resources or time for deep user research, I leaned on proven UX patterns from platforms like Shopify to move fast without sacrificing usability. I extended Podium's existing design system (originally built for 3D scenes) to cover forms, tables, and input layouts — components that would become reusable across the entire product. Every decision here was made with scalability in mind, so this groundwork could support analytics and tool integrations later.

Listing view vs Form view

Building the Supplier Portal

Early user interview with suppliers and industry SMEs revealed the real opportunity: suppliers didn't just want to upload data — they wanted to see how their products performed. How often were they viewed? Specified? Tested by architects?

This shaped the portal into an active business tool, not just a CMS. I introduced

real-time analytics dashboards for product visibility,
an intuitive interface for managing product specs and variants, and
applied progressive disclosure so new suppliers could focus on setup while experienced users accessed deeper tools when ready.

Early user interview with suppliers and industry SMEs revealed the real opportunity. Suppliers didn't just want to upload data. They wanted to see how their products performed. How often were they viewed, specified, tested by architects?

This shaped the portal into an active business tool, not just a CMS. I introduced

real-time analytics dashboards for product visibility,
an intuitive interface for managing product specs and variants, and
applied progressive disclosure so new suppliers could focus on setup while experienced users accessed deeper tools when ready.

Connecting Supply to Design — The Component Selector

The hardest part is making supplier data feel seamless inside architects' and engineers' 3D design workflow. The goal was a feedback loop — design decisions inform suppliers, and supplier data informs design choices.

I designed a side-panel interface that let users explore and preview supplier products without ever leaving their design context. Architects could search, filter, and compare components. Engineers could preview product behaviour in 3D to evaluate spatial fit early. Suppliers gained visibility into how and where their products were actually used in real projects.

This closed the loop on Podium's core vision: procurement as a strategic, co-creative part of design — not an afterthought.

Balancing functionality and scalability

Balancing Functionality and Scalability

Every design decision was made with scalability in mind. The portal had to serve suppliers of different sizes from small niche manufacturers to global brands like Schindler.

To achieve this:

I created modular interface components that could flex between simple and advanced configurations.
Established consistent design patterns for forms, tables, and data visualisations using the Podium Design System.
Collaborated closely with engineers to ensure that even complex data structures (e.g. nested product variants or parametric properties) remained accessible through simple, familiar interactions.

Impact

The Supplier Portal became one of Podium's most significant product milestones. By connecting supplier product data directly into project designs, the platform unlocked network effects that demonstrated clear business value, contributing directly to Podium's $5M Series A from Schindler.

What I Learned

Designing under ambiguity is a skill, not a setback. Without full research, I relied on hypotheses, rapid iteration, and borrowed mental models from mature platforms. Mockups became the validation tool.

Collaboration was the strategy. As the sole designer, co-creating with engineers rather than perfecting in isolation meant designs were feasible, scalable, and shipped faster.

The real deliverable was the system, not the screens. The design patterns and components built during this phase became reusable assets that accelerated everything that came after. The project was ultimately about creating alignment between design, business, and technology.

Back

Overview

The Challenge

My Role

The Process

Balancing functionality and scalability

Balancing Functionality And Scalability

Impact

What I Learned

Designing for Suppliers

The Challenge

My Role

The Process

Laying the Foundation

Building the Supplier Portal

Connecting Supply to Design — The Component Selector

Balancing functionality and scalability

Balancing Functionality and Scalability

Impact

What I Learned

Designing under ambiguity is a skill, not a setback. Without full research, I relied on hypotheses, rapid iteration, and borrowed mental models from mature platforms. Mockups became the validation tool.

Collaboration was the strategy. As the sole designer, co-creating with engineers rather than perfecting in isolation meant designs were feasible, scalable, and shipped faster.

The real deliverable was the system, not the screens. The design patterns and components built during this phase became reusable assets that accelerated everything that came after. The project was ultimately about creating alignment between design, business, and technology.