Ada Tech x Puma
AI DRIVEN SOFTWARE FOR puma to make informed design decisions
Product Design | user research | artificial intelligence
An AI Approach to Performance Analytics
Product Analysis Software designed for PUMA to make informed design decisions
Ada Tech, now Tadavo, is an NSF-funded startup built in partnership between Northeastern University and PUMA — using machine learning to change how footwear performance is understood, evaluated, and acted on before market launch.
*Certain aspects of this project are under NDA. Reach out to learn more.
OUR PRODUCT MISSION
MY CONTRIBUTION
I owned end-to-end design for the platform's core product flows, working at the intersection of academic research and real enterprise software.
OUR APPROACH
Our innovative approach was giving designers and sales teams the data to make confident decisions — before a shoe ever reaches market.
IMPACT
This AI-powered tool is anticipated to increase Puma’s design and market analysis efficiency by up to 30%, fostering a 20% rise in innovation and efficiency. Enhance success & strengthens Puma's market position in the footwear industry.
Team & my role
I joined Ada Tech as a UX Design Intern and grew into a full-time UX Designer in a multidisciplinary team of designers, engineers, and PhD researchers — owning end-to-end design for the platform's core AI-powered workflows.
👨💻🎓 The team consisted of designers, engineers, and PhD students from Northeastern & University of Michigan.
Advanced Design Augmentation (ADA) Team at Northeastern
"What if designers and sales teams could predict before a single sample is produced whether their design would actually sell in the market?"
WE DESIGNED
A software that analyses your product
to predict market performance.
Designing a helpful, software backed by AI to make impactful, user-friendly & informed decisions. The software will predict market performance by drawing comparisons with :
So how did we achieve this?
OUR PRODUCT MISSION
Breaking down the problem into solution buckets:
an Analysis Software that
by Displaying Key Results
which Predicts Product Performance
We spoke to 10 people, both design and sales teams from PUMA to understand how the shoe production process works, in the current day and age and why is it special?
IDENTIFYING TARGET USER GROUPS
We developed this application utilizing a user-focused design strategy, performing comprehensive conversations with Puma's Sales department and footwear creators to completely comprehend their requirements and processes.
The two user groups identified were:
01: Footwear Product Designer
02: Product Line Manager
Footwear Product Designer
Product Line Manager
Footwear Product Designer
John Strak
"Design is about predicting the needs of the future!"
Needs
Special shoe design that would fit in the future
The shoe that performs well and looks good will own the market
Build a product that lasts long, catering to the user at the highest level
Frustrations
Unable to compare market trends and get feedback on shoe design
No clear insights from the customers and the market
Wants to feel confident about his design before market launch
Key Insights & Opportunity Areas
Feedback Vacuum
John creates 15-20 design concepts before
narrowing down, but receives structured feedback on only 20% of rejected designs.
Trend Analysis Paralysis
Spends 12+ hours weekly manually researching
trends across different markets and competitors.
Sustainability Constraints
Feels limited by available sustainable materials that meet both performance and aesthetic requirements.
Difficulty in Trend Comparison
Designers struggle with analyzing and predicting market trends due to a lack of comparative tools.
Opportunity Areas
Integrated Trend Analysis Platform
A unified dashboard that pulls trend data from multiple sources, saving designers
10+ hours weekly on manual research.
Rapid Prototyping & Feedback Loop
Digital tools to quickly visualize designs and gather structured feedback from
stakeholders and test groups.
Unified Product Performance Analytics
Centralized system that connects sales, inventory, and customer feedback data
to inform future design decisions.
Streamlined Approval Workflows
Digital collaboration tools that reduce decision bottlenecks by 40% and
accelerate time-to-market.
OPPORTUNITIY AREAS
Identifying Opportunities
Brainstormed the current state to identify opportunity areas
Current State (As is)
Designers and product teams lack efficient tools to measure a product sucess leading to:
Delayed identification of quality issues
Subjective decision-making process
Limited customer feedback integration
Opportunity Areas (To be)
What if we could efficiently assess key factors like durability, comfort, and performance to:
Enable data-driven design decisions
Improve product quality standards
Accelerate feedback integration
Key Features of The Software:
In our pursuit of a seamless user experience, we’ve integrated three distinctive features:
01: Concept Evaluation
Evalaute your designs by uploading pictures in the software
02: Customer Insights
Explore the vast shoe database, and filter down to get results
03: Inspire Me
Ai generated deisgns based on prompts and expreimentation to help get ideas
My role in this project
KEY FEATURES THAT I WORKED ON:
I designed key features for ADA, enhancing both functionality and user experience. My primary role was to map out user flows, create prototypes and leveraging research and UX best practices to ensure clarity and ease of use.
By applying data-driven insights, I developed user-friendly solutions that improved the overall experience.
Home Screen
Common Functionally
Customer Insight
Concept Evolution
Data Visualization
Dashboards
I planned the initiation and main display to simplify the design's navigation.
Designed the final layout products and visual dashboards to showcase the results from simulation runs to audiences and customers.
Designed the shared features which incorporated user profiles, authentication interfaces, support, info pages, etc.
Focused on the Client Discovery sections to construct diverse panels from the current footwear database and exhibit data in an organized format.
Develop diverse data illustrations and instructions on visualizing the data by generating bar graphs, graphical elements, and radar charts.
Worked on the workflow for concept to understand clear flow for analyzing a new shoe in the market.
Below is a list of the core functionalities and design elements I contributed to alongside my team.
We created a series of Information Architecture and fast iterations of wireframes initially to breakdown the complex functionalities.
IA & WIREFRAMING
The complex information architecture was designed with interactive states in mind, ensuring accurate lo-fi wireframes.
We created an app for Puma’s Sales and Design teams, using rapid iterations and feedback to refine designs, address pain points, and align with user needs.
⭐ We used the IA to further modify our lo-fi wireframes into a structured web flow.
CTA
Input fields for user (text & selection)
Filters & Dropdown
Search
Result & Product Card View
Footer
Primary Navigation
Inner Pages
Conditional Journeys
Three distinct, original workflows
and dashboards to be established,
which would be accessible from the
homepage and the top navigation
panel, substantially aiding in crafting
a streamlined user journey, while
avoiding redundancy and ambiguity.
Unique user flow
Home Page
Nav Bar
Understanding user journeys
User Pain-points
Assumptions
NAV BAR
Left
Logo
Customer insights
Concept Evaluation
Design
About Us
Right
Login/ Profile
SIDE NAV
Left
Logo
Customer insights
Concept Evaluation
Design
About Us
Right
Login/ Profile
HOME PAGE
CONCEPT EVALUATION
CUSTOMER INSIGHTS
DESIGN
LATENT INSIGHTS
Select Style
Enter the project name here
Image Evaluation
Upload the images for evaluation
Suggestions
Submit
With lacing around the foot
Comfortable sole
Suggestions
Submit
With lacing around the foot
Comfortable sole
Add a Description
Select Style
Enter the project name here
Image Evaluation
Upload the images for evaluation
Suggestions
Submit
With lacing around the foot
Comfortable sole
Suggestions
Submit
With lacing around the foot
Comfortable sole
Add a Description
SIDE NAV
New Concept
Other Projects
Allbirds V1
New Balance v3
Search
Search form the shoe database
Filters
Price / MSRP $
Brand
Type
Subclass
Sort Order
Sort By
Gender
Reset Filters
Men
Women
Kids
Unisex
Latent Insight
Project Name
Enter the project name here
Image Evaluation
Upload the images for evaluation
Suggestions
Submit
With lacing around the foot
Comfortable sole
Add a Description
Product Image
Sentiment Analysis
Select Brand
Select Type
Select Subclass
Filter by Attribute
Need Finding & Opinion Summary
Color
Cushion
Durability
Fit
Heel
Impact Absorption
Permeability
Shape
Stability
Traction
Product Comparison
Latent Insights
Sentiment Detail
Create File
Enter the project name here
Sentiment Analysis
Spider Chart
Edit Description
Genearte Again
With lacing around the foot
Comfortable sole
Image Evaluation
Write Prompt
Enter the AI prompt
Generate
Inspire Me
Suggestions
With lacing around the foot
Comfortable sole
New Concept
Other Projects
Allbirds V1
New Balance v3
I have had the privilege of working with an amazing team.
While I am bound by Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA) that require confidentiality, I am excited to share some of the valuable skills, experiences, and outcomes I achieved during my tenure at ADA.
**For more information on this project feel free to reach out..
While I would love to give more details..
THERE IS MORE..
Every design challenge is an opportunity for growth.
Here's what I learned while creating solutions that balance user needs with business objectives.
Designed for established platforms
Designing a first-of-its-kind software is a challenge, but we ensured every decision was backed by research and user-driven data to create a strong, effective solution.
User Research
Data-Driven
Platform Integration
Uncovering Edge Cases
Designing for a large database revealed key insights as we built wireframes and connected the front end to the backend, uncovering critical edge cases.
Edge Cases
Data Base
Information Arch
Finding balance between business and user needs
As product designers, we're taught to prioritize user needs, but it's equally important to consider how design decisions impact a business's growth and longevity.
Business Value
User-Centric
Platform Integration
Looking back on the journey
LEARNING & REFLECTIONS
Here's me presenting the final prototype to the PUMA team based in Boston. This project exemplifies my approach to collaborative design and stakeholder management.
