Design Dash | November 2022
Coffee Run
Overview:
CoffeeRun is a mobile app concept created in a 5-day rapid design sprint to reimagine the way office teams coordinate their daily coffee runs. What began as a lighthearted problem—“Who’s going to get the coffee?”—quickly revealed deeper friction points around fairness, coordination, and communication in group errands.
The project focused on turning a chaotic, socially awkward experience into one that feels fair, delightful, and effortless.
The app randomizes the coffee “runner of the day,” allows teams to input and view orders at a glance, and streamlines payments—all through a clean, gamified interface.
This case study showcases how human-centered design can solve everyday micro-frustrations in a way that not only works—but brings people joy.
Product Design Sprint
Duration: 5 days
Tools: Figma
A rapid end-to-end UX project focused on solving a specific real-world problem — the inefficiencies and social friction involved in coordinating office coffee runs. This sprint explored ideation, user flows, low-fidelity wireframes, prototyping, and final UI.
The Challenge
Every other teatime, designers take turns getting drinks for the team. Each person orders from different stalls and pays individually. Skipping a drink is fine, but not the courier duty. Specific requests, like sugar levels or toppings, often complicate orders, leading to mistakes and disorganized payments.
Obstacles:
Managing complex and personalized drink orders.
Organizing payments effectively.
Ensuring a fair selection process for coffee runners.
Crafting a user persona
Michelle Lee, 26
Creative Designer, Singaporean
“I need a fast and reliable way to take down my co-workers coffee and drink orders”
Michelle is a creative designer at a advertising agency, designers will take turns to buy drinks for everyone in the design team. She struggles to get the orders correct because she finds large orders extremely overwhelming.
Assumptions:
Everyone pays on time
Co-workers enter their drink orders in detail
Assumes that nobody will make last minute changes
Pain Points & Frustrations
Messes up order details because there are too many personalized drinks
Gets overwhelmed with large orders
Co-workers are fickle, constantly changes their order so she gets confused
Behaviours
Takes orders from co-workers
Plans route for errand running
Collects payment from co-workers
Needs & Expectations
A way for her to get everyone’s order correct with no fuss
A fast and easy way to collect payments before and after
Everybody gets their correct order in the shortest and fastest time possible
Problem Solving
& Solution Ideation
Every office has it’s ritual. It’s small, informal — but packed with social friction. Who goes? Who pays? Who forgot their order again?
I empathized with real behaviors.
The rock-paper-scissors. The guilt-trips. The “you owe me” tally that never adds up. The unspoken rule that the intern goes. Conventional tools weren’t built for this. Spreadsheets? Too clinical. Poll bots? Too clunky. Notes? Lost in chat purgatory.
Can I design a solution that’s as casual as the coffee run itself? One that’s fair, fun, and needs zero overthinking?
That question sparked my ideation.
Quick Ideation:
Sketches & Conclusion
To kick off ideation, I sketched out a rough user flow to understand how the app should function at its core. Given the simplicity of the problem we’re solving, I focused on keeping the journey lean, direct, and easy to follow.
The initial sketches explored the following key moments:
Runner of the Day: A randomized person is assigned as the runner to ensure fairness and avoid awkward “who’s going?” conversations.
Store Selection: The runner picks a preferred store from a list of nearby coffee spots.
Order Collection: Teammates input their orders via a simple form. This is designed to feel like a quick text—you’re in, out, and caffeinated.
Mass Notification for Payment: Once orders are locked in, the app sends a single notification to all participants prompting them to pay their share. No chasing, no awkward reminders.
Runner Summary & Payment: The runner gets a clean overview of who ordered what, who’s paid, and collects the amount due once the run is completed.
Rapid Wireframes
In just one week, CoffeeRun was ideated, wireframed, and prototyped to solve a deceptively simple challenge.
I focused on designing a system that felt as intuitive as the daily ritual itself — with clean navigation, zero learning curve, and frictionless functionality.
From user login and store selection, to order tracking and runner assignment, each screen was mapped to reflect real-world behavior and team dynamics.
By leveraging gamification and thoughtful micro-interactions, CoffeeRun turns what used to be an awkward task into an effortless, engaging experience.
The End Product
CoffeeRun is a gamified mobile app that brings structure and joy to office coffee runs.
At its heart is the Runner of the Day — a randomized selector that eliminates bias and makes the experience playful and fair. The app pulls in the nearest three coffee shops to simplify choice, and creates a live order board where every team member’s preferences are neatly listed.
Once the orders are fulfilled, the runner can easily track payments, ensuring nothing gets forgotten — or awkward.
It’s not just about getting coffee.
It’s about making shared routines simpler, smarter, and a little more human.