PROPRINT TOOLBOX / INTERNAL TOOLS
Two tools for the everyday work of a local print shop.
Replace price-book lookups and manual calculations with a quote ready to review and turn into a customer email.
Check shared stock records before another trip to the second-floor storeroom.
Design · Development · Testing
I proposed the tools, discussed feasibility with the owner, then designed, built, and tested them.
Original quoting tool: ~2 weeks · Latest iteration: ~1 week
In internal use
The desktop tool is used by staff handling quotes and project coordination.
QUOTING TOOL
A routine customer quote meant looking up the price book, calculating the total, applying adjustments, and writing an email. Repeating those steps made even a familiar job slow to prepare.
THE WEB TOOL
I built the full web tool around product, specifications, quantity, and turnaround. It applies supported pricing rules and builds a quote I can review before preparing the customer email.
Keep product specifications, quantity, and turnaround together instead of finding each price by hand.
Check the items, tax, and total in the same view before moving on to the customer email.
LATER ITERATION / EMAIL EDITING
The earliest web version did not let me edit the email in the tool. I added editable subject and body fields so I could adjust wording before copying. Email generation and editing are now available in both the web tool and the compact window.
THE COMPACT WINDOW
Built and tested as an installable desktop app for macOS and Windows.
The full web page still occupied too much screen space and made me switch back to my email. A smaller, pinnable window let the quote stay on the left and the email on the right.
CONFIGURE & REVIEW
Choose the product, specifications, quantity, and turnaround. Add the item to the quote and review the order before generating its email.
EDIT THE EMAIL
Generate the subject and body, then edit them inside the tool. Copy the reviewed draft into the email app for the final check and manual send.
INVENTORY TOOL
The storeroom is on the second floor. A question about paper or card could mean leaving the desk, checking stock upstairs, then returning to the customer. I wanted a useful first check without another trip.
THE INVENTORY TOOL
I built a stock record the owner and I can check across devices. Material specifications and recorded quantities help answer routine questions; we still update the record manually.
CHECK THE RECORD
Readable specifications help identify the right item. Quick quantity entry commits on change; it does not use the full-item Save / Cancel flow.
EDIT AN ITEM
Full-item edits stay in a draft until Save item. Cancel leaves the draft unapplied. Quick quantity entry is separate: it commits directly on change.
ITEM ACTIONS
Delete item is inside More actions and requires confirmation, away from routine quantity updates. The single-step minus button is disabled at zero.
REFLECTION
Repeated calculation, preparing the email, and limited screen space each revealed a different opportunity. Using the tools myself helped me follow the whole task. Next, I would time comparable quotes and test inventory updates more systematically.
Workflow, ownership, staff use, and timing are designer-reported. The estimate is not a formal efficiency study. Current source checks establish interface behavior, not measured business outcomes.
Images show isolated, source-derived UI with invented prices, materials, quantities, and identities. Device mockups and the side-by-side email arrangement are illustrative compositions, not a customer email or an actual send. Current interfaces illustrate the solution, not a historical version.
Full-item Save / Cancel is separate from direct quantity entry, which commits on change. Custom quantity validation, undo reliability, and concurrent updates need further checks. Quoting and inventory remain separate workflows.
