Apple Guide (formerly Sherpa)

Turning product specs into human stories — empowering Apple’s retail specialists and partner sales teams to deliver confident, personalized recommendations that elevate every customer interaction.

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Solution

Apple

Customer(s)

Apple

Deliverables

Mobile App

Introduction

Apple’s global retail and channel partners needed a more intuitive way to communicate product value on the sales floor.
The existing tools — comparison tables and static feature grids — forced employees to memorize specs instead of enabling meaningful conversations.

I led the end-to-end product and design for Project Sherpa (now called Guide), a mobile and tablet experience that helps Apple specialists and partner associates instantly surface the right story for each customer — whether they’re upgrading an iPhone, buying a first Apple Watch, or comparing camera capabilities.

Through the Golden Thread Methodology, every flow was tied to a real retail moment: a human story that bridges specs with emotional value.

Impact

Rolled out to all Apple Retail Stores and key channel partners worldwide (Best Buy, carriers).
Enabled 20 K+ retail employees to deliver faster, more confident recommendations.
Drove a 30 % increase in attach rates for complementary products (e.g., AppleCare, accessories).
Improved customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores by +15 points in post-purchase surveys.
Recognized by Apple Retail leadership as a key enabler of the “Today at Apple” consultative sales model.

This tool became a cornerstone of Apple’s in-store experience — turning complex comparisons into human stories that sell through empathy and clarity.

Project gallery

Product Story — Designing for Confidence on the Sales Floor

The challenge:
Multiple disjointed comparison tools (.com, Tips, internal pricing apps) left employees overwhelmed. They needed a unified, narrative-driven tool that let them show — not tell — why one device was right for each customer.
[→ link to “comparison landscape” image]

Research & synthesis:
We mapped the “Day in the Life” of retail associates and uncovered patterns:

Learning happens between customer interactions.
Staff remember stories, not specs.
Customers make decisions emotionally first, then logically.

Solution:

Context-aware comparison: side-by-side storytelling anchored in relatable use cases (“Family,” “Work,” “Travel”).
Dynamic demos: launched instantly into live device demos, showcasing features like Night Mode and battery life.
Adaptive interface: scaled from in-store iPad to partner tablets with consistent Apple design fidelity.
Guided flow: simplified setup for new staff, replacing hours of training with intuitive learning-by-doing.

Outcome:
Guide redefined how Apple tells its product stories — blending empathy, simplicity, and precision into a single retail tool that drives measurable business impact.

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Reflection

Project Guide reinforced a design principle I carry into every enterprise product: make information actionable, contextual, and human.
It proved that even in the world’s most iconic retail environment, the right tool can transform knowledge into confidence— at scale.

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