Specimen 00 · System map · Food-ordering platform · Design exercise
One Platform, Three Portals
A Senior Product Designer take-home: map a food-ordering platform with customer, store and platform portals — information and money flows both. I built the map around the one thing all three share: the order.
The surface problem
Three portals, three logins, three sets of screens. The obvious map draws three columns and hides how they connect — and buries the money inside the admin column.
Excavation log
Four layers, top to bottom
Compared three structures side by side, then chose the hybrid: a lifecycle spine, portal lanes beneath it and a separate money band.
Eight Claude skills were read and assigned and 18 Figma MCP tools mapped before a single node was drawn. Every node hangs off the order state it belongs to.
Capture, gateway, authorisation hold, settlement, commission and payout run beneath every order — with refunds and chargebacks feeding back in.
The failure modes are annotated on the board itself, and an HTML walkthrough trainer rehearsed the presentation stop by stop.
Phase 2 · Structure decision
Three ways to structure the map
The brief said how you structure the map is a big part of what gets read. So each option was scored as a mental model of the platform, not a layout preference.
| Criterion | A · Portal-centric | B · Lifecycle-centric | C · Hybrid ✓ chosen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Completeness signal | Hard to show what’s shared | Every step visible | Everything + context |
| Portal connection clarity | Arrows get messy | Ownership unclear | Both dimensions clear |
| Money flow visibility | Buried in the platform column | In-flow but mixed | Dedicated section |
| Live walkthrough traceability | Jump columns to trace | Left-to-right finger trace | Spine + clear lanes |
| Structural “because” quality | Default choice — weak signal | Clear argument | Strongest design argument |
| Execution risk | LowSimple to build | MediumOwnership ambiguous | MediumMore sections, more planning |
The artefact · interactive
Walk the whole map
All 41 nodes in one working system map. Pick a portal, step the lifecycle or press play, and click any node to see what it does and what it connects to.
Interactive · built from the board
Pick a moment. See all three portals at once.
Every portal is watching the same order. Choose a state on the spine and the lanes below show what the customer, the store and the platform each touch — and what the money is doing underneath.
At this moment
Customer portal
Store portal
Platform portal
Money flow
Shared infrastructure
Always underneath: Identity & Auth × 3 portals · Product Catalogue → Search Index · Pricing Engine
Written on the map
Where the system breaks
The hold expires after 24–48 hours. If the store accepts but delivery fails before capture converts, the hold lapses and the platform must re-request payment — rare, but real.
A rate changed mid-cycle only applies to orders placed after the change. Orders already in flight settle at the rate captured when they were placed.
Index updates are async. A store going offline isn't instantly invisible — for a few seconds a customer can still add its items. Cart validation at checkout is the safety net.
Rehearsal tool · built with Claude
Eight scenarios, one finger-trace
A walkthrough trainer for presenting the map live. Pick a scenario and its path lights up across the board; click a node for its annotation, its “because” and the line to say out loud.
- 01Happy path
- 02Failed payment
- 03Store rejects
- 04Refund dispute
- 05Store goes offline
- 06Item out of stock
- 07Driver cancels
- 08Store onboarding
Open the walkthrough trainer ↗ Best on a laptop or larger screen.
The full dig
Every artefact, open to read
Portal-centric vs lifecycle-centric vs hybrid, scored side by side, with the written “because”.
Open ↗ Phase 3Board annotationsEvery node on the board with a written rationale — what it is, why it’s there, what moves through it.
Open ↗ The mapInteractive system mapAll 41 nodes across three portals, the lifecycle spine, money flow and shared services — steppable and clickable.
Open ↗ RehearsalWalkthrough trainerEight scenario paths with talking points for presenting the map live.
Open ↗ Phase 0Skills registry & system designThe AI set-up behind the build: 8 Claude skills assigned, 18 Figma MCP tools mapped, trigger rules and the component inventory.
Open ↗Field notes — AI proposed / I decided
Where the judgment happened
Confirmed Option C and wrote its “because”: the lifecycle is the only object all three portals share at the same time.
Money gets its own band. The brief asked for money flows, and most maps bury them in the platform column.
Which failure modes earned a sticky on the board: hold expiry, mid-cycle commission changes and search-index lag.