Ashok's Template Board

See which of my card designs a client can use right now, and which ones I am still working on.

Who this is for

Ashok Deshpande is seventy and designs wedding invitation cards from a room above a printing press in Nagpur's Itwari market. He has about ninety designs built up over thirty years, and two people who help him: his nephew Vikas, and Sunita, who handles the printers. The moment is nine in the morning, when a family rings to ask whether the peacock card with the gold border is still free, and Ashok has to say he will call back.

How the job is done today

There is a green register with one column for the design number and one for whoever took it. Half the entries are in pencil, because things change. The actual files sit in folders on his laptop with names like final2 and finalnew. When a family asks on WhatsApp whether a design is free, Ashok asks Vikas, Vikas checks the register, and if the register is unclear he opens the folder to see whether the design is even finished. Twice this year Ashok promised the same exclusive design to two families in the same month, and had to redraw one in four days.

The screens, in order

1. The board — Shows every design as a large picture with one word under it, so Ashok can scroll and see what he is free to offer while the client is still on the call.
2. One design — Opens a single design full screen with who has taken it and until when, so there is no guessing from a pencil entry.
3. Change the word — Lets anyone of the three mark a design as ready, being worked on, or promised, using three buttons that fill the width of the phone.
4. Add a design — Takes a photograph of a new design and gives it the name Ashok already calls it by.
5. Promised list — Shows only the blocked designs and the date each hold ends, so designs do not stay locked to a family whose wedding was in March.

What it keeps track of

• Designs — the photograph, the name Ashok calls it, what kind of card it is, whether it is ready or being worked on or promised, and when it was last touched
• Holds — which design, which family or shop took it, until which date, and whether it was promised to them alone
• People — name, town, phone number, and which designs they have taken before

The one decision that matters

Either the board is one long scroll of large pictures with the ready ones at the top, or it is tidied into categories such as Hindu, Muslim, Christian, engagement, and Ashok taps into one before he sees anything. Categories look neater and would suit a younger designer. Go with the single long scroll. A category screen means reading small labels and remembering which bucket a design was filed under thirty years ago, and Ashok files the same peacock card under two names depending on the month. Scrolling costs him nothing. Choosing costs him the call.

What to leave out of the first version

Leave out any way for families to look at the board themselves. The moment clients can see it, every design needs a price, a watermark, and a decision about what is fit to show, and that is a different piece of work. Also leave out a search box. With ninety designs and the ready ones on top, Ashok's thumb is faster than his eyes on a small field.

How you would know it worked

A family rings about the peacock card and Ashok answers them while still on the call, without putting the phone down or calling out to Vikas. And the green register goes a whole month without anyone opening it.

Build it

Paste this in and let it run.

I design wedding invitation cards and I have around ninety designs built up over the years. Make me a phone app for myself and my two helpers where each design shows as a big picture, one below the other, with one word under it in large letters saying Ready or Working or Promised. The ready ones should come first. Everything must be large enough for me to read without my spectacles. When I tap a design I want to see it full screen, who has taken it and until when, and three big buttons to change that. I want to add a new design by taking a photograph and typing the name I call it by. I also want one screen listing only the promised designs with the date each hold finishes. No small text anywhere, and no login for clients, only the three of us use this.