Supplier Portal

Podium · Sole Designer · 2023–2024 · 0→1 Product

Podium connects architects, engineers, and real estate developers in a single design platform but suppliers were missing from the picture entirely. Their product data sat in static PDFs and offline catalogues, or on their websites, completely disconnected from where building decisions were actually being made.

This is the end-to-end journey of how I designed that missing piece, from the first supplier interview through to dev-ready handoff, over about a year.

Podium connects architects, engineers, and developers in a single design platform. Suppliers weren't in that picture. Their product data sat in static PDFs and offline catalogues, completely disconnected from where building decisions were actually being made.

This is the end-to-end journey of how I designed that missing piece, from the first supplier interview through to dev-ready handoff, over about a year.

0→1

Built from scratch, discovery through dev-ready

25

Suppliers onboarded
as of today

~12 months

From user interviews to released

Understanding the Podium Ecosystem

Podium is a design automation and feasibility platform for the built environment. It brings together real estate developers, architects, engineers, and suppliers, using automation to accelerate the journey from design to procurement and reduce the time it takes to realise a project.

On the project side, architects and engineers work inside Podium's 3D environment to design buildings at the site, building, and component level. On the supplier side, before this portal existed, there was nothing. Suppliers had almost no presence in the building development process.

Podium is a design automation and feasibility platform for the built environment. On the project side, architects and engineers design buildings inside a 3D environment at the site, building, and component level. On the supplier side, before this portal existed, there was nothing.

Suppliers had almost no presence in the building development process. That's the gap this project was built to close.

Podium platform ecosystem, project teams (developers, architects, engineers) on one side, suppliers with their CMS and product catalogue on the other. This project built the supplier half from scratch.

Challenges & Goals

Podium's vision was to enable DfMA, connecting the right supplier products to project designs in real time, so that data, not guesswork, drives procurement decisions. To get there, we needed a platform that gave suppliers the tools to manage their products, gain visibility into how they were being used, and actively participate in the design process alongside architects and engineers.

The question that shaped everything was "How do we bring suppliers upstream into the building design process and make it valuable for everyone involved?"

Podium's vision was DfMA — connecting the right supplier products to project designs in real time, so data drives procurement rather than guesswork. To get there, suppliers needed tools to manage their products, see how those products were being used, and actively participate in the design process alongside architects and engineers.

The question that shaped everything was "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 a computation designer, in close collaboration with the engineering team. I owned the full process from user interviews, together with Product Manager to synthesis, concept validation, interaction design, and dev-ready handoff. Every design decision that shipped through this product went through me.

I was the sole designer on the Supplier squad, working alongside a product manager and a computation designer, in close collaboration with the engineering team. I owned the full process from user interviews (alongside the product manager) and synthesis, concept validation, interaction design, and dev-ready handoff. Every design decision that shipped through this product went through me.

The Process
  1. Supplier Concepts — understanding who we were designing for

My product manager and I started by talking to people, suppliers, architects, and industry subject matter experts, to understand the journey a supplier actually goes through in the building development process, from design stage through to tender submission and awarded contract.

We mapped out the supplier AS-IS workflow and collected all our observations into a discovery board, grouped by theme. This gave us a clear picture of where the pain was concentrated and where Podium could provide the most value in the near term.

My PM and I started by talking to people — suppliers, architects, industry subject matter experts. We wanted to understand the journey a supplier actually goes through, from design stage through to tender submission and awarded contract.

We mapped the supplier AS-IS workflow and grouped all our observations by theme. That gave us a clear picture of where the pain was concentrated and where Podium could provide the most value near term.

Grids

Maps the full supplier journey across the building development process used to identify where the gaps were.

Grids

All observations from user interviews collected and grouped by theme.

  1. Synthesising the data

After the interviews, I synthesised what we'd learned, creating themes across the observations and identifying the areas where we could make the most meaningful impact. From there I drew out user flows for the key interactions: how suppliers would import products, how we'd handle validation for bulk data imports, and how product management would work inside the CMS.

This is where the shape of the product started to become concrete. The flows weren't just documentation. They became the design brief.

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.

Explores how suppliers can import their products by mapping different data points to Podium's schema.

Explores how to handle validation errors from mass product data imports without losing supplier progress.

Explores how suppliers create a product profile and manage variants as part of the CMS feature.

  1. Establishing the basics

Before anything else, suppliers needed a way to onboard, set up their company, and get their product data into the platform. We were essentially building a CMS for the built environment and doing it without a dedicated research runway or much precedent inside Podium.

I turned to proven patterns from Shopify and other established platforms to move quickly without sacrificing usability. Forms and layouts were built on Podium's existing design system, but the system had been designed for 3D scenes, it didn't have comprehensive form inputs, tables, or listing components. I extended it to cover what we needed, with scalability in mind so every component could be reused across future features.

In order to involved Supplier users to the Podium ecosystem, we needed a way to onboard, manage their company information and upload the product data. Essentially, we are building a content management system for build environment, supplier and manufacturers. This foundation step come with it's own constraints. With no design resources and no room for deep-dive user research, I turned to proven UX patter from Shopify and other leading e-commerce platforms to accelerate design and maintain a high standard of usability.

  • Forms and layouts were built on Podium's Design System. Since initial design system was mostly for the 3D scenes, I had to extend the design system to accommodate different inputs, form layouts and tables components.

  • Focused on designing clean and accessible forms for company details, product uploads and listing management.

  • Considered on scalability, ensuring that the foundation could support the future capabilities like analytics and integration with design tools.

Clean, accessible form layout for suppliers to set up their company details and listing view for managing imported products.

  1. Designing the Supplier Portal

Once the foundation was in place, the focus shifted to the portal itself. Early supplier engagement revealed that suppliers didn't just want to upload their data. They wanted to know what happened to it, how often products were viewed, which projects they were specified in, how they compared to others in the same category.

That insight reframed the portal from a static CMS to an active business tool. I introduced real-time analytics dashboards so suppliers could track product visibility and specification rates. I designed an intuitive product management interface for updating specs and managing variants. And I applied progressive disclosure throughout, new suppliers could focus on getting set up, while experienced ones could access deeper tools and integrations without them getting in anyone's way.

With the foundation in place, I focused on the portal itself. The core interface gave suppliers an at-a-glance view of how their products were performing; views, company page visits, total active products, recent project opportunities. The product listings view let them manage their catalogue, update specifications, and monitor what was live on the platform.

User flow
User flow

At-a-glance view of product performance — views, company page visits, total products, and recent project opportunities.

User flow
User flow

Supplier portal — product listings view, where suppliers manage their catalogue, update specifications, and monitor which products are active on the platform.

  1. Connecting to the bigger picture

With the portal in place, the next challenge was connecting supplier data to the architects' and engineers' actual workflow inside Podium's 3D design environment. This became the Component Selector, a tool that bridged the gap between supply and design in real time.

I designed a side-panel interface that let users browse, filter, and preview supplier products without leaving the view they were already in. Architects could search and compare components against design criteria. Engineers could preview how a product would behave spatially in a live 3D scene understanding fit and performance early, before a specification was committed. Suppliers, for the first time, could see exactly where their products were showing up in real projects.

That feedback loop of design decisions informing suppliers, supplier data informing design was the core of Podium's vision. And this was the feature that made it real.

The portal solved the supplier side. The harder problem was connecting supplier data to what architects and engineers were actually doing inside Podium's 3D environment.

That became the Component Selector.

I designed a side-panel interface that let users browse, filter, and preview supplier products without leaving the view they were already in. Architects could search and compare components against design criteria. Engineers could preview how a product would behave spatially in a live 3D scene — understanding fit and performance before committing to a specification. Suppliers, for the first time, could see exactly where their products were showing up in real projects.

That feedback loop — design decisions informing suppliers, supplier data informing design — was the core of Podium's vision. This was the feature that made it real.

User flow

Site → Building → Component — each stage of the building development process, showing how supplier and component details come together inside the Podium environment.

Supplier products surfaced inside an architect's live building model, the moment the supply chain and the design process share the same view.

Site Space

Component Selector — supplier product data surfaced at the exact moment an architect is making a specification decision, without leaving the design context they're already in.

Impact

We shipped three connected products: a Supplier Portal for onboarding and catalogue management, a Product Catalogue for architects to browse and compare supplier products, and a Component Selector embedded directly inside Podium's 3D design environment.

As of today, 25 suppliers and manufacturers had onboarded, real companies, real product data in the platform. The feature set is currently on ice while other parts of Podium mature to the point where the full loop can activate.

We shipped three connected products: a Supplier Portal for onboarding and catalogue management, a Product Catalogue for architects to browse and compare, and a Component Selector embedded directly inside Podium's 3D design environment.

As of today, 25 suppliers and manufacturers have onboarded — real companies, real product data in the platform. The feature set is currently on ice while other parts of Podium mature to the point where the full loop can activate.

Back

Overview

Understanding The Podium Ecosystem

Challenges & Goals

My Role

The Process

Impact