My role
UX Designer / UX Researcher / UI Designer
Date
January 2021 → November 2022
Project Type
Marketplace prototype + Guidelines + Workshops
Tools
Figma / Notion / Confluence / Mirakl Platform / Baymard institute
Overview
Context
For the past two years, I’ve worked as a UX/UI Designer in Mirakl’s Solution Consulting Team. Mirakl is a software company helping both B2C and B2B clients succeed in e-commerce. Its core product is the Mirakl Marketplace Platform. By connecting directly to a CMS and adding new features, it transforms any retail e-commerce site into a marketplace.
Problem statement
In the Solution Consulting team, our role was to help customer teams implement Mirakl software smoothly. One major challenge stood out: training design and development teams to understand the front-end impacts of Mirakl features, on both desktop and mobile.
The shift from a retail to a marketplace model brings many UX and UI changes. New features stack up quickly. Yet there was no documentation, no workshops, no clear guidance.
We needed a way to train customer teams effectively. To speed up implementations. To reduce errors. To secure smooth marketplace launches. And, most importantly, to deliver the best possible customer experience.
Solution
I set out to design a responsive prototype covering all Mirakl Platform features tied to its APIs. Alongside it, I prepared documentation and workshops explaining, page by page, the changes that come with switching to a Mirakl-powered marketplace.
To make this manageable, I mapped out a year-long schedule. Each phase relied on design sprints, guided by design thinking, and focused on the sections most impacted by Mirakl technology.
The result was a fully functional, responsive marketplace prototype. Paired with structured workshops, it became a practical tool to explain the platform and train customer teams effectively.
My Role
I was the sole designer on this project. I handled user research, wireframes, and prototypes. I also produced documentation and ran workshops. To validate my work, I tested designs through usability tests and surveys with the key audiences: the Mirakl SC team and customer teams.
Design Process
I ran a six-week design sprint using the design thinking framework. It followed five steps: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test. Along the way, I kept refining the deliverables to match Mirakl’s software updates.
I applied this process to every marketplace section, starting with the most critical ones. This approach gave us flexibility and allowed real-time delivery. It meant my team—and our customer teams—got support exactly when they needed it.
1/ Empathize
User interviews / Shadowing / Documentation
→ To better understand the core challenges, I started with user interviews—five people from my team and five from customer teams.
→ Next, I practiced shadowing during customer workshops led by Mirakl solution consultants. This helped me design solutions aligned with real behaviors and existing knowledge.
→ Finally, I immersed myself in Mirakl’s API and feature documentation. I also studied e-commerce UX and UI best practices, drawing on research from the Baymard Institute.
2/ Define
Affinity map / User personas
→ To organize my research findings, I used affinity mapping. Each insight went on a sticky note. Then I searched for patterns and grouped them together.
→ The result wasn’t surprising: two main user groups emerged. For each one, I built a persona to guide the design process.
3/ Ideate
Brainstorming / Mind mapping / Benchmarks
→ After an extended brainstorming phase, I proposed creating a functional marketplace prototype, complete with documentation and workshops. It could be shown directly to customers and easily supported by Mirakl consultants.
→ To refine the ideas and spot trends during the ideation stage, I also ran benchmarks. These were guided by recommendations from the Baymard Institute.
4/ Prototype
Drawings / Wireframes / Prototypes
→ I started with low-fidelity wireframes, then moved to high-fidelity designs in Figma. This allowed me to test ideas quickly with both my team and customers. The goal was always the same: show complex functionalities in a simple, effective way.
→ For this, I relied on a carefully selected Figma e-commerce library. Over time, I refined and expanded it as the project evolved.
5/ Test
Usability testing / User surveys
→ To understand how people interacted with the prototypes—and to see if the product idea met their expectations—I ran several rounds of usability testing with my team.
→ At the end of each workshop, Mirakl consultants also shared surveys with customer teams. This gave me continuous feedback and helped me keep improving the work.
6/ Optimization
Feedback / Software updates
→ I continuously refined the deliverables based on team feedback, aiming to improve the overall implementation experience.
→ I also stayed up to date with Mirakl software updates to ensure everything I produced matched the latest version.
Reflexions
Outcomes
I successfully designed a responsive Mirakl-powered marketplace prototype, along with documentation and workshops, to support both the Mirakl SC team and customer teams during implementation.
The feedback was very positive—from my team and from customers alike. My team noticed faster, more efficient software rollouts thanks to the workshops. Customer teams gained a clear understanding of the platform and its features, as confirmed by user surveys.
Takeaway
Running a project of this scale while still a Master’s student—working only three weeks a month—was a real challenge. My team trusted me and supported me as much as they could, even though many weren’t familiar with user-centered design methods. Over two years, they taught me a lot and introduced me to the world of e-commerce and marketplaces.
Knowing that my work had an international impact was motivating. It was my first time working in English, sometimes with customer teams on the other side of the world. The experience was intense, but incredibly rewarding.
I realized that the research phase is the most critical in UX design. During my first design sprint, I felt blocked without all the technical and business requirements—but that’s part of the job. I had to learn quickly and adapt to this new environment.
