When DS Techworks Solutions launched its signage software, xtravu DSS,
support requests for content changes quickly spiked, consuming hours and frustrating
clients. Recognising the gap, I took ownership and led the end-to-end development of xtravu
Play—a strategic solution designed to simplify content management and eliminate the need for
support.
Problem Statement
The existing web app for signage content management was designed for
enterprise-level operations, making it cumbersome for small businesses. The process for
updating content required multiple steps and deep navigation through an unintuitive
interface.
The existing web app for signage content management was designed for enterprise-level operations,
making it cumbersome for small businesses. The process for updating content required
multiple steps and deep navigation through an unintuitive interface.
To understand these struggles better, we asked 17 of our clients to record themselves performing
three essential tasks:
Updating existing content
Adding a new display
Creating and scheduling a new layout
The results were concerning:
10 out of 17 users needed external help from our support team
It was less of a workflow and more of a 'will-it-work' flow.
Even experienced users found the UI cluttered and navigation confusing.
A single mistake, like an internet drop, required starting over from
scratch.
The lack of offline functionality meant businesses with unstable internet
suffered delays.
Old Vs New User flow diagram
Key Pain Points
Overwhelming UI & deep navigation: Users had to navigate multiple
menus, search for content, delete, drag-and-drop widgets, assign layouts, and schedule them.
Dependency on internet connectivity: If the upload failed, there was no
fallback or local backup.
No rollback feature: If an incorrect update was made, users had to manually
re-upload previous content.
Steep learning curve: Users needed training to operate the system, leading
to high support dependency.
When the support team needs support... you know it’s bad.
These challenges underscored the need for a simpler, offline-first approach
tailored to the real needs of small business owners.
Our Solution: A Simple, Offline-First Signage App
Design Philosophy
We took a radically simplified approach by eliminating unnecessary complexity.
Instead of mirroring enterprise-level features, we built a separate system that allowed
any user, regardless of technical skills, to update content within a minute.
Goodbye, scheduling tools. You won’t be missed.
We wanted to remove the friction completely. The goal was:
No tutorials needed
One-click actions
Works entirely offline
Friendly to TV remotes
This meant ruthlessly cutting features that only large franchises needed (like scheduled
content). Our target users needed simplicity, not a cockpit of tools.
Key Design Decisions
1. Minimalist, Two-Screen Structure
We condensed the entire functionality into two screens:
Player Screen: Displays media in the assigned order.
Settings Screen: A simple UI to manage content.
This change alone removed half the navigation steps of the old system.
Two Screen Struicture
2. Core Functionality in Four Buttons
To make the app remote-friendly, we streamlined the UI with just four essential
actions:
Go to Settings
Manage Playlist (Add/Remove media)
Save & Exit (Display New Content)
Rollback to Previous Content (In case of faults)
If it couldn’t be done with four buttons, it didn’t belong.
Four Buttons Only
This ensured no training was required—users could instinctively understand what
to do.
3. Offline-First Approach
Content could be updated via a USB drive (simply plug in and drag &
drop).
Users could also connect their mobile phone to the same WiFi network, scan
a QR code, and manage content through a web interface—eliminating the need
to type complex IP addresses.
In other words: no Wi-Fi? No problem.
4. Remote-Friendly Design
Using Android TV Material Design principles, we optimized for:
Big, readable text (Poppins font)
Large buttons for easy navigation with a remote
Dark theme with blue accents for better readability
Dark mode, because bright screens and angry clients don’t mix.
5. Local Storage with Rollback
The app stored the last 7 days’ worth of content, so if users made a
mistake, they could easily revert back without re-uploading.
UI Design
We designed for a resolution of 960x540, which scaled beautifully to 4K screens.
We kept the UI dark-themed with bluish accents and used Poppins, a clean, sans-serif font that
felt branded yet readable from a distance.
Dark mode, because bright screens and angry clients don’t mix.
My Process
I used Figma for everything:
FigJam for user flows & info architecture
Wireframes & high-fidelity UI
Prototypes & dev handoffs
Even my research slides were in Figma
Did everything in Figma. Adobe XD who?
All components were built using Google’s Material Design library to ensure consistency and remote
navigation ease.
Material Design saved my soul and my spacing issues.
Testing & Validation
Internal Usability Testing
We invited support team members (who frequently assisted clients) to perform the
three key tasks.
The result: every participant completed the tasks without needing guidance.
Sometimes, no complaints is the feedback.
Client Prototype Testing
After refining the design, we sent a prototype to our clients. Every single client was
able to complete all tasks.
One client with 13 displays in a showroom raised an important concern: updating
content for each display separately was tedious.
13 TVs and one tired human. Scaling pain is real.
While our initial scope focused on small businesses, we recognized this as an opportunity for
future scalability when expanding to larger franchises.
Collaboration
While I didn’t work full-time with developers, I have a background in engineering.
I understood their pain points and held meetings to clarify flows and share prototypes.
One of our devs found updating playlists with a remote extremely tedious during testing, as he
needed to update playlist many times in order to test properly.
So we quickly added a mobile companion accessible via QR code and local server.
Developer complaints = goldmine features.
That tiny feature turned into a fan favorite.
Impact & Results
1. Significant Reduction in Support Tickets
Before launching the app, 13 clients generated 250 support tickets per month,
mostly for content updates.
📉 One month after launch:
Support tickets dropped to just 100 from over 60 clients—a 60%
decrease in support requests.
Support team now has free time to sip chai, and they treated me samosa with it.
2. Increased Adoption & Market Growth
Without any paid marketing, we saw 600+ downloads and grew from 13 to 54
paying clients within months.
Suffering from success.
3. Higher Client Satisfaction
Clients loved thespeed, simplicity, and offline reliability.
The rollback feature, in particular, gave them confidence in making updates.
Turns out, simple is surprisingly hard.
Challenges & Lessons Learned
What Worked Well
✅ Simplified user experience by focusing only on essential features. ✅ Offline-first
approach made the app reliable in all conditions. ✅ The mobile companion
feature (QR-based access) became an unexpected hit. ✅ Engineering background helped in
seamless collaboration with developers.
What I’d Improve Next Time
📌 Start working on mobile companion earlier – It became the preferred interface
for younger clients.
Should’ve built that mobile tool sooner. But hey, better late than never.
📌 Plan for larger businesses earlier – While we focused on small
businesses, larger businesses wanted a scalable version.
Final Thoughts
This project reinforced the importance of designing for real-world users rather
than just replicating industry standards. By focusing on simplicity, usability, and
offline accessibility, we transformed signage management into an effortless task
for small businesses.
This success validated our user-centered approach, proving that sometimes, less is
more.
