Project Airbender

Dutchie powers the cannabis industry with point of sale, e-commerce, payments, and marketing tools. In 2021, the company acquired Leaflogix and Greenbits to expand their in-store retail operations.

Both platforms were mature and widely used, but built with different design languages, interaction models, and assumptions about retailer workflows. At the same time, cannabis retail introduces strict regulatory and reporting requirements that add significant operational complexity.

I was responsible for translating the new visual direction into a scalable, production-ready system that could unify both products and support cross-functional execution.

Dutchie needed to unify two fundamentally different point of sale systems into a single cohesive experience while maintaining retailer trust and supporting complex regulatory workflows.

Leaflogix served large enterprise dispensaries with deep operational requirements, while Greenbits focused on smaller retailers with streamlined workflows. Their UX patterns, visual systems, and feature depth differed significantly.

Without a shared system foundation, teams rebuilding front of house and back office experiences across devices risked inconsistency, rework, and slowed execution under aggressive timelines.

I approached Project Airbender as a foundational systems initiative centered on clarity, scalability, and execution speed.

1. Auditing and mapping existing workflows

I conducted hands-on audits, observed customers on-site, and mapped workflows across both platforms to determine where patterns could be standardized and where flexibility was necessary. This created a shared understanding of operational differences before system decisions were made.

2. Establishing a flexible component foundation

Navigation and hierarchy were redefined to support complex, nested back office environments while remaining usable for designers. Tables were structured as modular components, separating headers and cells to allow flexible composition without sacrificing consistency.

I partnered with engineering to define the initial token structure and helped shift designers toward consistent token usage in Figma, enabling global adjustments as the system evolved.

3. Systemizing the design language

While the high-level creative direction was founder-led, I translated that vision into a structured, production-ready system. I formalized accessible color scales, spacing systems, and reusable components capable of supporting both data-dense back office workflows and streamlined transactional screens.

Over six months, this work established the foundation for Dutchie Point of Sale and enabled teams to execute quickly under tight timelines. Designers were supported with clear templates and patterns, while engineering benefited from consistent tokens and improved implementation alignment.

The unified system reduced fragmentation between legacy platforms and created a durable foundation for future growth across devices and workflows.

As a result:

• Leaflogix and Greenbits were unified into a cohesive Dutchie Point of Sale experience
• Shared components and tokens improved cross-team collaboration and reduced rework
• Core retail workflows were simplified, reducing steps in high-frequency tasks
• Retailers reported faster transactions and improved in-store productivity
• The system provided a scalable foundation for future expansion across devices and workflows

This project reinforced the tradeoffs involved in speed, especially when unifying complex and mature products. While the big-bang release created a strong visual moment for the brand, I believe a more incremental rollout would have reduced friction and improved outcomes.

In hindsight, I would have prioritized redesigning a small set of high-impact workflows first and validating the new direction with a group of trusted customer advocates before scaling it across the entire product. Designing and implementing in parallel to meet aggressive timelines created moments where engineering felt blocked or lacked clarity on how certain edge cases should behave. A more staged approach could have improved alignment, reduced rework, and allowed deeper validation of complex back office workflows.

The experience shaped how I think about system rollouts today. Strong design systems are not just about visual cohesion, but about sequencing change thoughtfully, creating feedback loops early, and ensuring teams are not forced to trade clarity for speed.

This work was made possible through close collaboration with product, design, and engineering partners. Special thanks to Zach, Lauren, Cory, Teddy, Jordan, and Evan.