Connecting operations, brand and service design to transform the customer experience across multiple store locations
Service Designer, Marketing & Ops
I led the end-to-end transformation of retail operations and customer experience across multiple store locations by implementing a new POS system, deploying scalable digital signage, retail space redesigns, branding and building design systems to enhance customer experience across every touchpoint.
A Modern Food Experience
Filo Lasa is a Filipino food brand created to bring authentic flavours into a modern Australian retail environment and operating across locations at Westpoint Blacktown and Westfield Penrith.
The challenge required balancing Authentic cultural story telling, establishing a strong visual differentiation, providing service efficiently and consistently, introducing scalable operational systems and building brand recognition for audiences who were unfamiliar with Filipino cuisine.
The goal was to create a modern hospitality experience that felt approachable to new customers while remaining connected to Filipino identity and flavour.
Reimagining Filipino Hospitality for Modern Retail
From Craving to Checkout
To better understand how customers interacted with Filo Lasa across physical and operational touchpoints, I mapped the end-to-end customer journey from initial awareness through to post-meal engagement.
I identified several strategic improvements across digital menu systems, POS workflows, signage, service operations, and brand communication to help create a more seamless and consistent experience across locations.
Building the Brand
The brand identity focused on balancing warmth, energy, and familiarity with a modern visual system that could scale across multiple environments.
I defined the brand positioning, tone of voice, visual direction, logo usage, typography, packaging direction, menu layouts, signage, social content and customer experience principles that shaped how the business presented itself both physically and digitally.
Optimising Hospitality Operations
One of the improvements in operations as Filo Lasa grew was upgrading from a feature limited POS (point of sale) software to using the Square POS system.
The adoption of a new POS provided Filo Lasa with an upgraded system that worked to enhance efficiency in operations through digital rostering, timekeeping systems, real-time sales tracking and insight gathering. This gave Filo Lasa the opportunity to make quicker business decisions.
Remote Signage, Real-Time Updates
Store Redesign & Spatial Experience
With the development of the business, I redesigned two Filo Lasa store locations in order to make the brand image more consistent and more appealing for customers.
One of the main problems with the original design of the Filo Lasa store was the absence of clear instructions about placing an orders and picking up orders.
Blacktown Filo Lasa Redesign
Penrith Filo Lasa Redesign
The redesigns aimed to strengthen brand visibility within busy shopping centre environments, improve operational flow, menu communication, lighting, customer sightlines, and the overall customer journey.
My Take-Away
The combination of branding, service design, operational systems, and customer experience strategy gave Filo Lasa better scalability and consistency throughout several sites.
I demonstrated that there is more to design than just visual identity. Each sub-project was an important step to a more integrated hospitality experience.
Being involved in different aspects of the business has greatly enhanced my understanding of multidisciplinary design and the power of systems design in tackling practical problems.