Griffin Wells - Blackbird

Blackbird is a loyalty and payments platform that's reimagining how restaurants connect with guests. I designed the Flycar—the server-facing POS device at the heart of every Blackbird transaction.

Role: Product Designer
Projects: POS Device Redesign, BOH Dashboard, Itemized Receipts, Open Check Experience

BACKGROUND

Blackbird Pay lets diners check out directly from their phones. But behind every seamless guest experience is a server who needs to close the check.

When guests tap the Blackbird puck, they check in, earn $FLY rewards, and can pay whenever they're ready.

But payments don't close themselves. Servers need to enter totals, sync with the POS, and handle edge cases like split checks and private dining. That's where the Flycar comes in—a dedicated device that lives alongside the restaurant's existing systems.

When I joined, Blackbird was scaling fast across NYC, LA, and Charleston. The Flycar existed, but the interface wasn't keeping up with the product's ambitions.

PROBLEM

The Flycar UI was built for function, not intuition. In high-pressure service moments, that gap became friction.

The existing interface was an engineer-built MVP. It worked, but it required servers to pause, think, and recall how to use it. In a restaurant, that pause is expensive.

The deeper issue: restaurants experience wildly inconsistent Blackbird volume. One week, zero transactions. The next, dozens. Servers couldn't build muscle memory with a system they used unpredictably. Every shift felt like relearning.

The result was delayed check closures, confused staff reaching for their manager, and restaurants quietly defaulting back to their legacy POS.

OPPORTUNITY

How might we design a server experience so intuitive that any staff member can close a Blackbird check confidently on their first shift?

THE WORK

A complete Flycar redesign built around one principle: a server should understand any screen in under 3 seconds.

I redesigned the entire Flycar interface for instant comprehension. Every element was evaluated for cognitive load—larger touch targets, clearer hierarchy, progressive disclosure of information only when needed.

I also wrote the PRDs, prioritized features with engineering, and collaborated directly with restaurant partners to validate designs in live service environments.

GUEST CONTEXT

Servers need to know who they're serving—instantly.

I redesigned guest cards to surface the most critical information at a glance: photo, full name, arrival time, and status badges like VIP, Birthday, or Industry.

Tapping a card reveals ChitAI-generated context—visit history, preferences, and notes—so servers can deliver personalized hospitality without memorizing every regular.

CHECKOUT FLOW

Breaking complexity into confident steps.

The checkout flow was the highest-friction moment. I broke it into discrete steps with clear progress indicators. Each screen presents exactly one decision. The numpad is large and forgiving. Success states use color and animation to confirm completion.

I designed separate variants for FSR (full service) and QSR (quick service) contexts—because a fine dining server and a counter worker have fundamentally different workflows.

STAFF INCENTIVES

Training alone couldn't solve adoption. I designed a system to align server behavior with platform goals.

I proposed and designed a gamified incentive system: team challenges ("Close 75 checks this week, everyone gets 10,000 $FLY") with leaderboards and real-time progress tracking.

This transformed check closure from an extra task into a game—and gave Blackbird a scalable way to drive adoption at new restaurants without relying solely on training.

BEYOND THE DEVICE

I also designed the back-office tools that support the Flycar in production.

Operators needed a way to manage staff access—creating PIN codes, assigning permissions, onboarding new hires. I designed the web dashboard that restaurant managers use to administer their Flycar deployment.

Designing across surfaces (device UI + web admin) meant thinking about the full operational workflow, not just individual screens.

OUTCOME

The redesigned Flycar launched alongside Blackbird's LA expansion in October 2025.

40% faster server onboarding at new restaurants

2x more checks closed within 15 minutes of guest checkout
Zero re-training requests from LA launch partners
Trainers reported the new interface "just made sense"

BACKGROUND

Blackbird Pay lets diners check out directly from their phones. But behind every seamless guest experience is a server who needs to close the check.

When guests tap the Blackbird puck, they check in, earn $FLY rewards, and can pay whenever they're ready.

But payments don't close themselves. Servers need to enter totals, sync with the POS, and handle edge cases like split checks and private dining. That's where the Flycar comes in—a dedicated device that lives alongside the restaurant's existing systems.

When I joined, Blackbird was scaling fast across NYC, LA, and Charleston. The Flycar existed, but the interface wasn't keeping up with the product's ambitions.

PROBLEM

The Flycar UI was built for function, not intuition. In high-pressure service moments, that gap became friction.

The existing interface was an engineer-built MVP. It worked, but it required servers to pause, think, and recall how to use it. In a restaurant, that pause is expensive.

The deeper issue: restaurants experience wildly inconsistent Blackbird volume. One week, zero transactions. The next, dozens. Servers couldn't build muscle memory with a system they used unpredictably. Every shift felt like relearning.

The result was delayed check closures, confused staff reaching for their manager, and restaurants quietly defaulting back to their legacy POS.

OPPORTUNITY

How might we design a server experience so intuitive that any staff member can close a Blackbird check confidently on their first shift?

THE WORK

A complete Flycar redesign built around one principle: a server should understand any screen in under 3 seconds.

I redesigned the entire Flycar interface for instant comprehension. Every element was evaluated for cognitive load—larger touch targets, clearer hierarchy, progressive disclosure of information only when needed.

I also wrote the PRDs, prioritized features with engineering, and collaborated directly with restaurant partners to validate designs in live service environments.

GUEST CONTEXT

Servers need to know who they're serving—instantly.

I redesigned guest cards to surface the most critical information at a glance: photo, full name, arrival time, and status badges like VIP, Birthday, or Industry.

Tapping a card reveals ChitAI-generated context—visit history, preferences, and notes—so servers can deliver personalized hospitality without memorizing every regular.

CHECKOUT FLOW

Breaking complexity into confident steps.

The checkout flow was the highest-friction moment. I broke it into discrete steps with clear progress indicators. Each screen presents exactly one decision. The numpad is large and forgiving. Success states use color and animation to confirm completion.

I designed separate variants for FSR (full service) and QSR (quick service) contexts—because a fine dining server and a counter worker have fundamentally different workflows.

STAFF INCENTIVES

Training alone couldn't solve adoption. I designed a system to align server behavior with platform goals.

I proposed and designed a gamified incentive system: team challenges ("Close 75 checks this week, everyone gets 10,000 $FLY") with leaderboards and real-time progress tracking.

This transformed check closure from an extra task into a game—and gave Blackbird a scalable way to drive adoption at new restaurants without relying solely on training.

BEYOND THE DEVICE

I also designed the back-office tools that support the Flycar in production.

Operators needed a way to manage staff access—creating PIN codes, assigning permissions, onboarding new hires. I designed the web dashboard that restaurant managers use to administer their Flycar deployment.

Designing across surfaces (device UI + web admin) meant thinking about the full operational workflow, not just individual screens.

OUTCOME

The redesigned Flycar launched alongside Blackbird's LA expansion in October 2025.

40% faster server onboarding at new restaurants

2x more checks closed within 15 minutes of guest checkout

Zero re-training requests from LA launch partners

Trainers reported the new interface "just made sense"