Journey to the Summit (JTTS) is a large scale retail transformation programme created for Waitrose to unite over 30,000 Partners around a shared performance journey. Combining gamification, operational metrics, recognition, and behavioural design, the platform transformed traditional retail reporting into a more engaging, collaborative, and motivating digital experience.
Company
Waitrose & Partners
Timeline
2024 -
2025
Role
Sole UX/UI Designer responsible for the end to end product experience
Project overview
JTTS began as an internal initiative focused on simplifying fragmented retail reporting and creating a single platform that could connect performance, recognition, collaboration, and communication into one cohesive experience. Designed for over 30,000 Waitrose Partners across shops and support teams, the programme aimed to transform traditional performance management into something more engaging, motivating, and community driven.
As the sole designer on the project, I was responsible for the complete end to end UX/UI design and visual direction across the platform, including dashboards, gamification systems, onboarding, recognition experiences, seasonal campaigns, and internal community features. The goal was to create something that felt genuinely different from traditional enterprise software, balancing operational clarity with personality, storytelling, and behavioural design to help turn everyday retail performance into a shared journey people actively wanted to engage with.
Challenges
One of the biggest challenges was transforming a highly operational and metric heavy programme into an experience that felt intuitive, motivating, and emotionally engaging for thousands of Partners across the business. Retail teams were already overwhelmed by disconnected dashboards, scorecards, and reporting systems, creating fatigue around performance management and little emotional connection to the wider strategy.
Early in the project, the platform was being positioned to launch entirely within Tableau. While technically functional, it became clear this approach would significantly limit the level of engagement, storytelling, gamification, and community interaction the programme required. A major part of my role became carefully guiding conversations towards a more suitable platform solution without disrupting stakeholder confidence or momentum within the project. Helping navigate the transition towards LumApps allowed the experience to evolve into something far more scalable, community driven, and emotionally engaging.
As the only designer on the project, I was responsible for creating the entire visual and UX ecosystem from scratch while balancing operational seriousness with a more playful and motivating experience. The platform needed to simplify complex retail data, support users with varying levels of digital confidence, and create a scalable design system capable of expanding across dashboards, recognition systems, campaigns, and future JTTS initiatives.
Early user flows and MVP wireframes focused on testing how performance, recognition, progression, and social interaction could coexist within a single experience. The goal was to simplify complex retail workflows into something lightweight, intuitive, and motivating while validating how users would navigate between operational tasks, achievements, and community driven features.
I explored a range of logo concepts and branding directions to give Journey to the Summit a clear identity from the outset, helping transform an internal idea into a more established and engaging initiative
These concepts were created to communicate a more ambitious vision for Journey to the Summit — something more engaging, playful, and memorable than a typical internal initiative. The direction was received positively by stakeholders and helped build momentum around the project early on.
I spent time creating an entire suite of custom badges that helped define the gamified JTTS experience, making recognition feel more visual, rewarding, and memorable while turning everyday progress into something Partners genuinely wanted to engage with.
I also created a unique set of custom RSC vehicles that appeared across team dashboards to visually represent different support functions, adding personality, recognition, and stronger storytelling to the JTTS experience.
Results
Journey to the Summit quickly became one of the most engaged retail initiatives within the business, generating over 30,000 Partner interactions during rollout and significantly outperforming adoption expectations. The platform helped transform performance reporting from something transactional and compliance driven into an experience people actively wanted to engage with, contribute towards, and share.
The visual direction and gamified experience were consistently praised by stakeholders for feeling “fun”, “quirky”, and unlike traditional enterprise tooling. Features such as camp progression, custom badges, recognition systems, seasonal campaigns, and RSC team identities helped create stronger emotional engagement and a much greater sense of progression, achievement, and community across the organisation.
Alongside cultural impact, the platform also contributed towards measurable improvements across operational metrics including Quality of Service, CSAT, scheduling alignment, operational consistency, and reductions in failed picks with stock and high risk compliance shops. More importantly, JTTS helped establish a stronger sense of collaboration, ownership, and shared purpose across Waitrose Retail, demonstrating how thoughtful UX/UI design can directly influence engagement, behaviour, and organisational culture at enterprise scale.
What the team said
“Your willingness to take me on your creative journey with you has fostered a collaborative and supportive environment.”
With a keen eye for design and a deep understanding of user experience, you have played a pivotal role in shaping this website.”
“Kush, working with you on JTTS has been an incredible experience, not just professionally but personally as well.”
“The work you have contributed to looks and feels different, creating a platform for change.”
“Your willingness to take me on your creative journey with you has fostered a collaborative and supportive environment.”
With a keen eye for design and a deep understanding of user experience, you have played a pivotal role in shaping this website.”
Journey to the Summit (JTTS) is a large scale retail transformation programme created for Waitrose to unite over 30,000 Partners around a shared performance journey. Combining gamification, operational metrics, recognition, and behavioural design, the platform transformed traditional retail reporting into a more engaging, collaborative, and motivating digital experience.
Company
Waitrose & Partners
Timeline
2024 -
2025
Role
Sole UX/UI Designer responsible for the end to end product experience
Project overview
JTTS began as an internal initiative focused on simplifying fragmented retail reporting and creating a single platform that could connect performance, recognition, collaboration, and communication into one cohesive experience. Designed for over 30,000 Waitrose Partners across shops and support teams, the programme aimed to transform traditional performance management into something more engaging, motivating, and community driven.
As the sole designer on the project, I was responsible for the complete end to end UX/UI design and visual direction across the platform, including dashboards, gamification systems, onboarding, recognition experiences, seasonal campaigns, and internal community features. The goal was to create something that felt genuinely different from traditional enterprise software, balancing operational clarity with personality, storytelling, and behavioural design to help turn everyday retail performance into a shared journey people actively wanted to engage with.
Challenges
One of the biggest challenges was transforming a highly operational and metric heavy programme into an experience that felt intuitive, motivating, and emotionally engaging for thousands of Partners across the business. Retail teams were already overwhelmed by disconnected dashboards, scorecards, and reporting systems, creating fatigue around performance management and little emotional connection to the wider strategy.
Early in the project, the platform was being positioned to launch entirely within Tableau. While technically functional, it became clear this approach would significantly limit the level of engagement, storytelling, gamification, and community interaction the programme required. A major part of my role became carefully guiding conversations towards a more suitable platform solution without disrupting stakeholder confidence or momentum within the project. Helping navigate the transition towards LumApps allowed the experience to evolve into something far more scalable, community driven, and emotionally engaging.
As the only designer on the project, I was responsible for creating the entire visual and UX ecosystem from scratch while balancing operational seriousness with a more playful and motivating experience. The platform needed to simplify complex retail data, support users with varying levels of digital confidence, and create a scalable design system capable of expanding across dashboards, recognition systems, campaigns, and future JTTS initiatives.
Early user flows and MVP wireframes focused on testing how performance, recognition, progression, and social interaction could coexist within a single experience. The goal was to simplify complex retail workflows into something lightweight, intuitive, and motivating while validating how users would navigate between operational tasks, achievements, and community driven features.
I explored a range of logo concepts and branding directions to give Journey to the Summit a clear identity from the outset, helping transform an internal idea into a more established and engaging initiative
These concepts were created to communicate a more ambitious vision for Journey to the Summit — something more engaging, playful, and memorable than a typical internal initiative. The direction was received positively by stakeholders and helped build momentum around the project early on.
I spent time creating an entire suite of custom badges that helped define the gamified JTTS experience, making recognition feel more visual, rewarding, and memorable while turning everyday progress into something Partners genuinely wanted to engage with.
I also created a unique set of custom RSC vehicles that appeared across team dashboards to visually represent different support functions, adding personality, recognition, and stronger storytelling to the JTTS experience.
Results
Journey to the Summit quickly became one of the most engaged retail initiatives within the business, generating over 30,000 Partner interactions during rollout and significantly outperforming adoption expectations. The platform helped transform performance reporting from something transactional and compliance driven into an experience people actively wanted to engage with, contribute towards, and share.
The visual direction and gamified experience were consistently praised by stakeholders for feeling “fun”, “quirky”, and unlike traditional enterprise tooling. Features such as camp progression, custom badges, recognition systems, seasonal campaigns, and RSC team identities helped create stronger emotional engagement and a much greater sense of progression, achievement, and community across the organisation.
Alongside cultural impact, the platform also contributed towards measurable improvements across operational metrics including Quality of Service, CSAT, scheduling alignment, operational consistency, and reductions in failed picks with stock and high risk compliance shops. More importantly, JTTS helped establish a stronger sense of collaboration, ownership, and shared purpose across Waitrose Retail, demonstrating how thoughtful UX/UI design can directly influence engagement, behaviour, and organisational culture at enterprise scale.
What the team said
“Your willingness to take me on your creative journey with you has fostered a collaborative and supportive environment.”
With a keen eye for design and a deep understanding of user experience, you have played a pivotal role in shaping this website.”
“Kush, working with you on JTTS has been an incredible experience, not just professionally but personally as well.”
“The work you have contributed to looks and feels different, creating a platform for change.”
“Your willingness to take me on your creative journey with you has fostered a collaborative and supportive environment.”
With a keen eye for design and a deep understanding of user experience, you have played a pivotal role in shaping this website.”