Week Two (Part 3): Enhancing Visuals and Inventory Logic

A need for visual upgrade

The past few days have been a blur of progress, experiments, and a surprising amount of nostalgia. While the core of Hesti’s interface was already functional, several major features — Voice Command actions, Floor Plan Assistance/Generator, and Scheduling Intelligence — are still in the pipeline. Those will be my next focus. But before diving into them, something else demanded my attention.

Even though Hesti’s navigation was meeting early standards, the home screen and it’s six modules started giving me a strange, low‑grade anxiety. The layout worked, but it felt flat — like the interface was technically awake but emotionally asleep. After comparing Hesti to other hospitality interfaces and POS systems, the feeling sharpened: everyone else looked ready for a night out, and Hesti was still in her pajamas.

So I did what I’ve always done when something feels visually off: I opened Photoshop.

The Return of Forgotten Skills

In my younger days, I spent years designing digital player signature tags for online gaming forums. I didn’t expect those skills to resurface, but the moment I started adjusting colors, shadows, strokes, and layout positions, it all came back. It was oddly comforting like riding a bicycle again — a positive nostalgia that fuelled the redesign.

Within a short session of experimenting, the interface started to feel alive. Not perfect, not final, but undeniably more Hesti.

Translating Photoshop Into Base44

Of course, Photoshop can’t magically export its edits into Base44. So I turned to Copilot, explained every visual adjustment I made, and asked for a translation into a single Base44 instruction entry.

It worked… almost.

The first result was close, but not quite right. And so began what I can only describe as a creative back and forth tug‑of‑war with Base44. Funny. That just rhymed like some rap lyric. Anyways, where was I? Oh right…

After six or seven rounds of refinement, Hesti finally looked ready for a party. Not Prom — let’s not get ahead of ourselves — but definitely a solid house party. And that was enough to eliminate the “watch paint dry” feeling I’d been getting from the interface.

Enhancing Inventory Management

With visuals stabilised, I moved on to the next priority: Inventory Management.

The initial version worked — you could add, subtract, or update counts, set par levels, and configure reorder notifications. But something felt clunky, especially when using the “Instruct Hesti” chat box.

When I asked Hesti to “add three Grey Goose,” she created a new Grey Goose entry instead of updating the existing one. My first reaction was to remove that entry and try again but it came to my intention that there was no "Delete Item" function or button for this task. Weird. That went straight into the fix basket.

To make inventory management feel natural, I had to update Hesti's inventory logic with a few key factors:

• Don’t duplicate existing items

• Ignore case sensitivity

• Tolerate minor misspellings

• Provide clear action feedback

  
  

Once those were in place, the system felt smoother — but still incomplete.

Upgrading Memory and Fine Tuning Perspective

The next missing piece was historical awareness. Hesti could update totals, but she couldn’t tell me the difference between count periods.

So I added count‑stat history feedback. Now, whenever an item is updated, Hesti displays:

• The previous count

• The new count

• The difference

• A timestamp

  
  

That alone made the system feel more intelligent, but one more layer was needed: A summary report after bulk inventory updates.

Now, after a full count session, Hesti can automatically highlight:

• What’s missing

• What’s at critical levels

• Anything else worth noting

  
  

The result now feels far more aligned with the kind of operational intelligence Hesti is meant to embody.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/3dc8e6_c19ba0f9e0f140eea8b898060df2e302/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

What’s Next

With visuals refreshed and inventory logic upgraded, the next major milestone is Scheduling and Staff Management Intelligence. That’s where Hesti will start showing her deeper reasoning — and where things get really exciting.

More updates to come.

Ron Yee I Founder

Sky Ryder Studio