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GHEEV

Improving gifting and package delivery experience through thoughtful design

PRODUCT DESIGN EXPLORATION

Introduction

Picture this: it’s December 23rd, and the streets are packed and busy. Delivery slots are booked out, and Jane is sitting in front of her laptop, panicking.

She had the perfect gift in mind for her best friend—except, now it was too late to send it without the pain of logistics.

“I just want a way to send something beautiful without it being a stress fest,” she says, slamming her laptop shut.

Jane’s story wasn’t unique. Similar experiences were shared by a handful of people I spoke with—parents trying to send surprise gifts, friends scattered across time zones, and even businesses managing endless holiday orders.

Everyone wanted the same thing: an easier way to gift thoughtfully without sweating the details.

That’s where the idea for this e-commerce gifting platform was born. A place where users could effortlessly create and customize beautifully packaged gift boxes, check out smoothly, and track deliveries without feeling like they just ran a marathon.

And for those last-minute emergencies? An Uber-like delivery feature that connected users with drivers in real time to send packages across town.

What started as a simple idea quickly became a journey full of unexpected challenges, creative problem-solving, and moments that made me go, this is it. Here’s the story of how it all unfolded.

The Goal

To simplify the gifting and package delivery process for users looking to send/purchase gifts during celebratory periods, through thoughtful design. Success of this project would be determined using UI design heuristics and by monitoring user acceptance and feedback.

My Role

I worked as the principal product designer in a team of five: one UX researcher, one full-stack software developer, one business analyst and one product manager. I was responsible for visually laying out design elements, implementing a design system, creating animations and microinteracions, and overall, ensuring that the product met Web Content and Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and aligned with business goals.

Research

Research Insights: From Chaos to Clarity

The research didn’t begin with whiteboards or neat spreadsheets. It started in gift shops, market stalls, and chaotic delivery stations. I wanted to hear the real stories of real users.

One afternoon, I met a woman named Anita at a café. She had just finished hand-delivering gift boxes for her small business. “I tried using a delivery app, but they messed up the address,” she said, shaking her head. “So, I spent the entire afternoon playing delivery driver instead of working on my business.”

Later that week, I observed delivery drivers at a package station. It was pure chaos—bikes zipping in and out, packages piled high, and drivers struggling to find delivery locations. One driver looked at me and laughed, “If you can make this easier, I’ll personally thank you.”

The turning point came during a conversation with a daughter who wanted to send a birthday gift box to her dad back at the family’s hometown. She shared how she spent hours selecting gifts online, only to realize she had to handle packaging and delivery separately. “By the end, I was exhausted. I just wanted to make him smile, but it felt like a project,” she admitted.

That was the aha! moment. Gifting wasn’t just about the gift itself—it was about the joy of making someone feel special. It needed to be seamless, thoughtful, and emotionally rewarding.

With these insights, I mapped out the gifting journey: from selecting items to delivery tracking. Pain points were glaring—confusing interfaces, fragmented services, and zero personalization.

These challenges however, presented opportunities: what if every step of the process could be delightful?

That question became the North Star for the design journey that followed.

The Design Process: Creating an Enjoyable Experience from Start to Finish

Phase 1: Making Gifting Feel Personal

I started by sketching out what gift customization could look like. The goal was to make users feel like they were crafting something meaningful without getting bogged down in too many options.

Think of it as a digital version of wandering through a beautiful store, picking out the perfect items for someone special.

The first challenge was balancing flexibility with simplicity. Allow too many choices, and users get overwhelmed. Limit the options too much, and it kills creativity.

The solution? A modular gift box builder. Users could add items into their gift box with a tap, swap out products easily, and even see a real-time preview of their box.

During testing, one user smiled and said, “It feels like I’m decorating a Christmas tree—except with gifts!” That’s when I knew we were on the right track.

Phase 2: A Checkout Experience that Doesn’t Kill the Vibe

The next hurdle was checkout. Most e-commerce platforms treat it like a chore—a sterile series of forms that scream hurry up and pay. I wanted the experience to feel smooth, celebratory even, like sealing a love letter.

We stripped down the process to three simple steps: Review, Payment, and Confirmation. The design was clean, with playful micro-interactions that made each step feel like progress, not paperwork.

Animations on successful checkouts? Yes, please.

One user said, “I didn’t even realize I was done until the confetti popped—now I want to shop again just to see that.” Mission accomplished.

Phase 3: Designing the Perfect Shop Page—Because Nobody Likes Endless Scrolling

At some point in the design process, we hit an unexpected roadblock: users loved the idea of customizable gift boxes, but they weren’t sure where to start.

During testing, we noticed a pattern. Users would open the app, excited to create a gift box, but then just… stare at the empty screen. “What kind of gifts do you even have?” one tester asked. Another hesitated before saying, “I don’t even know what I’m looking for.”
That was the moment we realized something huge: we had built a great gifting experience, but we hadn’t built a great way to explore gifts.

People weren’t just looking for a checkout process—they needed inspiration. They needed a beautifully organized, easy-to-browse shop page that guided them toward the right gifts.

The Blueprint: Turning a Blank Screen into a Gift Paradise

The goal was clear: the shop page had to do three things really well:

1. Make gift discovery effortless – Users shouldn’t have to scout through endless listings to find the perfect present. The layout needed to be intuitive, clean, and organized in a way that made sense.
2. Speed up decision-making – If users found something they liked, they should be able to add it to their gift box in a single click, with no unnecessary steps.
3. Offer thoughtful suggestions – Instead of dumping all products in one place, we wanted to curate special categories like “Gifts for Him,” “Gifts for Her,” “Gifts for Kids,” and even occasion-based categories like “Birthday Favorites” and “Last-Minute Gifts.”

Armed with these goals, we started mapping out the Gheev product information architecture, and sketching the wireframes using FigJam.
Information Architecture
Shop Page Wireframes

From Wireframes to Wow: Designing the Shop Experience

The first wireframes were functional but uninspiring. A simple grid of products with an “Add to Gift Box” button. It worked—but it didn’t feel magical. It lacked the kind of intuitive design that makes browsing feel enjoyable rather than just another task.
So, we refined it:

✅ Curated collections – Instead of an overwhelming sea of products, we grouped gifts into themed sections users could instantly recognize.
✅ One-tap adding – No more unnecessary steps. Users could add an item to a gift box with a single click, and a subtle animation confirmed it.
✅ Smart filters and search – A predictive search bar and filters by occasion, interest, and price range made finding the right gift a breeze.

The “Aha!” Moment: When Users Fell in Love with the Shop Page

The first time we tested the new shop page, something incredible happened. Users who previously felt lost suddenly knew exactly where to go. They browsed with confidence, clicking through categories and filling their gift boxes in record time.

One tester, a dad who complained about his struggles every time he shopped for his daughter’s birthday, grinned as he clicked into “Gifts for Kids.” “Oh, this makes it so much easier. I’d often have no clue what to get otherwise.”

The shop page turned out to be more than just a convenience—it was a game-changer. It transformed the way users approached gifting, making it as simple as picking a playlist on Spotify.

Phase 4: Delivery that Feels Like Magic

Delivery was where things got tricky. Traditional package tracking is clunky and impersonal—just a series of unclear updates like Package is on its way. That wasn’t good enough for the user.

We pictured something more dynamic: real-time driver tracking on a map, push notifications for important updates, and an Uber-like system that matched users with available drivers near them.

To make this work, I collaborated closely with developers to optimize the route-matching algorithm and integrate a seamless driver interface.

The result? A delivery experience that felt personal and reliable. Users could see exactly where their package was and communicate with drivers if needed.
Small Details, Big Impact
Throughout the design process, I focused on little moments that made a big difference:

Map and Navigation: A sleek, easy-to-use interface that helped users and drivers find the best routes.

Chat and Notifications: Real-time communication between users and delivery drivers, reducing anxiety around delivery status.
Package delivery interaction demo

Phase 5: An AI Gift Guru for the Perfect Suggestions

In the middle of designing the core features, something interesting happened. One of our test users, a guy named Josh, hit a wall.

He was staring at the gift customization screen, totally lost. “I’m terrible at picking gifts,” he confessed. “If there was a magic button that could just tell me what to get, I’d click it a hundred times.”

That was the spark we needed.

What if we could give users a digital gift guru—a smart assistant that would help them choose the perfect gift, no guesswork required?

Enter the AI-powered gifting feature.

Building the Gift Whisperer

We brainstormed an experience where users could ask questions like:

What’s a good gift for someone who loves art?
What should I get for my dad’s birthday?
I need a romantic gift, help!

The AI would respond with thoughtful, creative suggestions, complete with links to items available on the app. But we didn’t stop there. We added a personality-driven feature where users could answer a few fun questions about the gift recipient’s interests and peculiarity. Questions like:

What are they obsessed with right now?
Are they more into hanging in or wild outdoor adventures?
Do they have a favourite colour or food?

Based on their responses, the AI would generate a customized gift list, complete with ideas tailored to the recipient’s personality. We wanted the user to feel like they had a personal “whisperer” at their beck and call.

Learning and Reflections

What I Learned

Designing the Gheev app experience was a journey filled with both wins and challenges which presented new creative opportunities for me. Here are some important things I learned:

Start with stories, not assumptions: Real conversations with users shaped the heart of the design. Hearing their struggles firsthand allowed us to empathize and prioritize meaningful solutions.

Balance AI intelligence with human warmth: User satisfaction skyrocketed when the when the experience moved beyond generic gift search to incorporating an AI assistant that felt thoughtful, creative, and very human-like.

Iterate, Iterate, Iterate: From early design sketches to multiple user testing, every iteration revealed new insights and opportunities to refine the experience.

Details matter: Small moments of delight, like confetti animations during checkout or playful prompts from the AI, created memorable experiences that users loved.

Design for emotions, not just efficiency: This wasn’t just about building an app—it was about designing a feeling. The goal was to help users feel thoughtful, creative, and joyful—and we succeeded.

Next Steps

Train the Gheev AI to Be Thoughtful

Incorporating an AI gifting assistant was like giving the app a bit of magic—but even magic takes work. After the initial excitement of the concept, the hard part was figuring out a way to train the AI to truly understand gifting, personality peculiarity, and questions with subtle nuances. It needed to be more than just a search engine; it had to think like a thoughtful gift-giver.

One of the next steps for this product, is training the AI to connect the dots between interests and gift ideas without making wild guesses.

Extending Gift Types and Categories

The early versions of the Gheev Product design exploration focused solely on physical products. During user testing however, one user, Maria, who lived in Nigeria but had a husband who was running a program in the UK, made a pertinent remark: “Sending a physical gift box to my husband would cost a lot. It would make much sense if I could send, say, gift cards instead.”

Boom. Though the design did well with addressing gift sending hassles for users and recipients who were not separated by phenomenally large distances, it excluded the potential user groups who were ,and those who didn’t want to send physical gifts.

A next step would be extending gift types from just physical products in physical gift boxes to virtual gifts like gift cards, coupons, subscriptions, downladable materials, in virtual gift boxes that can be accessed by the recipient from anywhere in the world.

UI Gallery

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