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Week 7: UI Improvements, Better Request Flow, and Clearer Setup

· 3 min read
Laura Gabryjańczyk
Laura Gabryjańczyk
Erasmus+ student from Technical University of Łódź

Last week, our team focused on improving both the usability of the platform and the developer experience around it. While previous weeks were centered on integration and deployment, this week was more focused on making the system easier to use, easier to navigate, and easier to work on locally and in production.

Improved Development Instructions​

One of the important updates this week was the improvement of the README.md file. The development instructions were updated to better explain how to run the project in both local and production environments, and a new troubleshooting section was added as well.

This may seem like a smaller task compared to backend or deployment work, but it is actually very important for the long-term maintainability of the project. Having clearer setup instructions makes it easier for team members to run the system consistently and reduces friction when debugging environment-related issues.

Home Page UI with Static Mock Data​

Another relevant piece of work this week was the implementation of the home page UI using static mock data. This allows the team to continue shaping the interface and improving the user experience even before every backend connection is fully finalized.

This is an important step because it helps transform earlier mock-ups into a more realistic and usable interface. It also gives a better sense of how users will navigate the platform and interact with the main modules.

Improvements to the Equipment Request Flow​

A major focus of the week was improving the equipment request flow. Since the requisition workflow is one of the core parts of the whole project, refining this process is especially important.

The goal of the project is not only to make equipment requests possible, but to make them simpler, clearer, and more repeatable throughout the lifecycle of a project. For that reason, improving the request flow directly supports one of the central objectives of the new Maker Lab system.

Better Navigation Inside the Platform​

We also made a small but meaningful usability improvement by making the logo clickable and redirecting it to the dashboard. This makes navigation more intuitive and aligns the interface with common web application patterns.

Changes like this help reduce friction for users and make the platform feel more polished and natural to use.

Why This Week Mattered​

This week was important because it improved the project in several practical ways:

  • better onboarding for developers through improved documentation,
  • a more concrete and visible home page,
  • a smoother equipment request flow,
  • and more intuitive navigation inside the app.

Together, these changes strengthen both the technical and user-facing sides of the system. They show that the project is not only progressing in terms of architecture and integrations, but also becoming more usable and maintainable in day-to-day development and usage.

Next Steps​

With the interface becoming more structured and the requisition flow being refined, the next steps will likely focus on continuing the integration between the frontend and backend, polishing the main user flows, and extending the current implementation toward a more complete end-to-end experience.