Responsive Redesign for Systemize & CounterGo

Moraware

Moraware is making their products more valuable with a new responsive, tablet-friendly interface that’s quick and easy to use in the field.

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MESSA and its design logo are marks owned by Michigan Education Special Services Association, registered in the U.S.
Systemize and CounterGo from Moraware help countertop fabricators create quotes and manage their work.

The two web apps work together, allowing fabricators to lay out and spec countertop projects, and keep track of their inventory, quotes, projects, clients, etc.

Systemize and CounterGo had received many incremental improvements since their initial release in 2002, but no major visual update.

Moraware’s customers had started using the software on phones and tablets, and the company wanted the system to work seamlessly on these devices.

Moraware worked with an interaction designer to plan their responsive, mobile-friendly approach, and they did code updates in-house. They came to Atomic Object for a complete visual redesign of Systemize and CounterGo.

Systemize and CounterGo are live products with many different types of users, so we had tight constraints. But Atomic’s design improved them dramatically—they're easier to use and much more beautiful.

Ted Pitts, Moraware Founder

Coordinating Stakeholders

In addition to team members Grand Rapids and Atomic Object, this project brought together lots of different groups. Having this many cooks in the kitchen required a lot of coordination and a complex project schedule that balanced several timelines and sets of constraints.
Recycling data from the GR Public Services Department
Dozens of vendors with rewards of various sizes, types, and durations — recruited and coordinated by Local First
The myGRcitypoints information website, created by The Image Shoppe

Technical Specs

Atomic designed the system architecture and wrote software and firmware for:

Custom Protocol
Reduces required bandwidth and handle collisions, allowing reliable transfer of a high volume of information through RF and cellular communications back to the data collection service.
Gateway Devices
Each is a Technologic TS 7800 single-board computer with a custom RF receiver. They run a combination of C and Ruby on an embedded Linux system.
Web App
A JRuby on Rails application using an Oracle database that deploys to IBM Websphere.

The new CounterGo and Systemize are designed for tablet users. The new responsive interfaces use space efficiently, with easy-to-use navigation and inviting colors that decrease eye strain.

They’re also backward compatible to work for all users, regardless of the type (or age) of their device.

It was very nebulous, complex problem, and we couldn’t always explain what we wanted. Sarah was great at iterating with us. She’d try something, we’d give feedback, and she’s come back with something else. We really enjoyed working with her.

Loren Curtis, Moraware Software Engineer

It was very nebulous, complex problem, and we couldn’t always explain what we wanted. Sarah was great at iterating with us. She’d try something, we’d give feedback, and she’s come back with something else. We really enjoyed working with her.

Loren Curtis, Moraware Software Engineer

Coordinating Stakeholders

In addition to team members Grand Rapids and Atomic Object, this project brought together lots of different groups. Having this many cooks in the kitchen required a lot of coordination and a complex project schedule that balanced several timelines and sets of constraints.
Recycling data from the GR Public Services Department
Dozens of vendors with rewards of various sizes, types, and durations — recruited and coordinated by Local First
The myGRcitypoints information website, created by The Image Shoppe

A Partnership with a Storybook Ending

The team’s careful project management, client communication, cutting-edge architecture, and cohesive design strategy helped the team ship the product on time and on budget.

Reflecting back on the multi-year, high-profile project, Robinson said Atomic helped his company arrive at a special moment in time.

“We'd never done anything this big. Ever,” he said. “We’re live across all the major pillars Atomic said they would deliver on. It was delivered on time, on budget, to expectation, live. Not three or four milestones late with people leaving and the platform half-baked and full of bugs.”

StoryLoom began open-beta in December 2022. A global launch is scheduled for the spring of 2023.

“Our future is pretty bright,” said Robinson. “We’ve been given a rare opportunity to find success by chasing opportunities Starship Enterprise-style: going where people aren’t—pushing boundaries.”

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Atomic provided responsive web app design and front-end development for CounterGo and Systemize using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

The Atomic Team

Here are some of our current Atoms who worked on this project. Click their photo to read their bios!

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Project domain(s)

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Services provided

Interaction Design
Visual Design
Software Development

Tools used

HTML
CSS/SCSS/Less
JavaScript/ECMAScript
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