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Northlight
A pocket studio for independent makers — invoicing, orders and inventory that respects how small teams actually work.
- Year
- 2025
- Disciplines
- iOS, Android
- Platform
- iOS, Android
- Brief
- Sample client
01Context
Northlight wanted a mobile product that felt made for one-person businesses, not a shrunk-down enterprise tool. We designed and built it for both platforms.
02Problem
Makers live on their phones between other tasks. Every flow had to be finishable in the gaps — at a market stall, on a train, one-handed.
- Cross-platform without feeling generic
- Offline-first for markets and studios
- Flows finishable in under a minute
- A look that feels crafted, not corporate
03Strategy
We prototyped the three flows makers do daily, tested with real sellers, then built native-feeling apps from a shared core.
- One design system, two native shells
- Local-first data with quiet sync
- Haptics and motion tuned per platform
- A weekly TestFlight the makers used for real
04Design
05Engineering
One React Native + Expo codebase for both stores; Supabase provides Postgres, auth and realtime order events, Stripe Connect routes split payouts to makers, and Fastlane keeps releases boring.
- Realtime order feed via Supabase channels
- Stripe Connect Express payouts with KYC flow
- OTA updates through Expo for instant fixes
- Store releases automated with Fastlane lanes
Also considered. Native twins were overkill for this surface area — Expo delivered both stores in the same sprint.
06Details
The mechanism underneath, as a working model. Press the buttons.
lab / realtime / realtime order feed
Orders stream to the maker's phone over channels; status changes fan out to buyers instantly.
Loading the model
Figures inside a model are simulated to show how the mechanism behaves. They are not production measurements.
07What shipped
8 modules are in the build below. Each one works.
- 01Live order feed with status advance
- 02Stock with low-stock alerts and reorder
- 03Invoice builder with a timer and GST
- 04Payouts
- 05Customers with lifetime value
- 06Product catalogue
- 07Reports and CSV
- 08Staff PINs and permissions
08Technology
This is the kind of work we do under Mobile Apps — iOS & Android.
Now use it.
This is Northlight, the whole application. Continue as the sample user, change things, reload. Your data stays in this browser and resets from Settings, then Data.
A full application, not a recording. Sign in as the sample user; your data stays in this browser.
