Case Study · 5 Days · UX/UI Designer & Sprint Facilitator
A 5-day Google Design Sprint that moved Blu Vape from brand ambiguity to a validated, community-led loyalty direction — achieving 87% user approval in a regulated industry environment where most redesign cycles take months.
The Problem
Blu Vape was experiencing declining market share in a rapidly evolving landscape. The existing brand experience was product-led and transactional — focused on features rather than relationships. There was no loyalty mechanic, no community, and no emotional reason for customers to stay. Crucially, the business could not afford months of speculative redesign — they needed validated direction fast.
"We're losing market share to competitors who better understand what customers want. Our brand feels outdated, and the experience is fragmented." — Marketing Director, Blu Vape
My role was to facilitate a 5-day Google Design Sprint — managing stakeholder alignment, running structured ideation, building a testable prototype, and delivering validated findings, all within a single week. I also had to navigate regulatory constraints specific to the vaping industry: age verification flows, responsible marketing requirements, and consumer protection standards.
Process
I facilitated C-level and department lead alignment sessions, running structured stakeholder interviews to surface competing priorities and unite them around one sprint question. Customer journey mapping identified the emotional drop-offs and missed loyalty moments across the end-to-end experience. By end of day the team had committed to a single challenge: how might Blu Vape build long-term relationships rather than one-off transactions?
Each team member ideated independently using Crazy 8s before sharing — a deliberate structure to prevent dominant voices from narrowing the solution space too early. Themes emerged around customer loyalty, product trial starter kits, and tobacconist retail engagement. All concepts were kept within what could realistically be prototyped and tested within 48 hours.
All concepts were evaluated using dot voting and a decision matrix across desirability, business value, and technical feasibility. The winning concept — an integrated loyalty ecosystem connecting digital experience with physical retail — was selected because it delivered the strongest long-term brand differentiation, unified loyalty, trial, and tobacconist engagement in a single coherent system, and could be meaningfully tested in one day.
I worked in Figma to create mid-fidelity wireframes validating information architecture and flow, then moved to high-fidelity screens representing the refreshed brand direction. Every screen was designed with one question in mind: can this be meaningfully tested tomorrow? Regulatory requirements — including age verification and responsible marketing constraints — were embedded from the start, not retrofitted.
I conducted moderated usability sessions with 8 participants — existing customers, potential new users, and tobacconist representatives. Each session was 45 minutes and followed structured scenarios around onboarding, loyalty engagement, and retail integration. The results were unambiguous: the concept shifted brand perception from "selling products" to "building a relationship." Key friction points around reward redemption and onboarding guidance were captured for the next iteration.
Outcomes
"Andrew's facilitation transformed our week. He navigated conflicting stakeholder priorities with diplomacy, kept us focused under tight deadlines, and delivered a prototype that exceeded expectations. The 87% user approval speaks for itself." — Sarah Mitchell, Head of Product, Blu Vape