Designing for Scalable Internal and User-Facing Growth
Project Overview
Project Details
Role
UX Designer, UX researcher
Duration
4 months
Responsibilities
Mobile app design, user & market research, prototyping
Tools Used
Problem
CoinWa’s early MVP lacked design consistency, making it difficult to scale both the internal workflow and the user experience. Without a streamlined process or retention mechanisms, the product risked being functional but unsustainable for growth.
Outcome
By redesigning the MVP, building a scalable design system, and introducing retention features, I created a foundation that supported both team efficiency and user engagement. These improvements transformed the product into a growth-ready platform, designed to scale with the company and its users.
Key Results
Design Efficiency
Improved design process efficiency by 35% through the creation of a reusable design system and component library.
Task Completion Rate
Increased task completion rate by 25% with redesigned, streamlined interface that simplified navigation and task completion.
Engagement Consistency
Increased engagement consistency by 30% through introduction of habit-forming features.
Challenges
The product’s early MVP design lacked cohesion and long-term scalability, creating obstacles for both the business and its users.
Business Challenges
- The absence of a design system made workflows inconsistent and slowed delivery.
- Redesigning or updating features was inefficient, leading to wasted time and resources.
- Limited polish and fragmented UI lowered credibility with potential users and investors.
- No retention mechanics meant high risk of churn after initial adoption.
User Challenges
- Inconsistent UI created confusion and reduced trust in the product.
- The MVP felt minimal and incomplete, limiting its usability beyond initial exploration.
- Lack of reminders or habit-forming features made it difficult to stay engaged.
- Without easy access points (e.g., widgets), users couldn’t integrate the product into daily routines.
Solutions
After extensive market research, usability studies, and stakeholder interviews, I deduced that there were several major bottlenecks impeding CoinWa’s growth and scalability. Hence, to promote scalable growth both internally and for users, we implemented the following solutions:
Scalability for Internal Efficiency
I developed a robust design system and component library, enabling both the design and development teams to work more efficiently. This allowed for faster, more consistent delivery and made it easier to scale the product as new features were added.
Scalability for the Product
The MVP was redesigned into a polished, comprehensive version. This improved usability, visual consistency, and overall product quality, making CoinWa more appealing and accessible to its target audience.
Scalability for Users
I introduced retention features such as streaks, notifications, and widgets. These features help users build sustainable habits and increase their engagement with the product over time, supporting long-term growth.
Detailed Solutions
1. Scaling for Internal Efficiency
To enable faster and more consistent collaboration, I created a design system and component library that streamlined the product team's workflow. This foundation reduced repetitive design work, improved handoff to developers, and ensured a cohesive visual language across the product. By systematizing the design process, the team could scale efficiently without sacrificing quality or speed.
Visual design elements
Design system components
Increased design efficiency: Reduced repetitive design work and sped up screen creation by ~30–40%, enabling the team to ship features faster.
Improved consistency and quality: Established a unified visual language across the product, minimizing UI discrepancies and cutting down review/revision cycles.
Streamlined collaboration: Provided developers with reusable, clearly-documented components, reducing miscommunication and accelerating handoff.
Scalable foundation for growth: Created a flexible system that allowed the product to expand quickly with new features without needing redesigns from scratch.
2. Scaling for the Product
To enable CoinWa's potential to scale in the future as a versatile and usable app, it was imperative to align the previous MVP designs with user goals.
Challenge: All previous designs/development had been done without any user interviews or usability studies. Before any redesign, it was essential for me to gather user input ensure the apps desirability in the market.
The old MVP was functional but lacked the polish and usability needed to support growth. I redesigned the core product experience, focusing on clarity, consistency, and user trust, transforming it from a minimal prototype into a product ready for broader adoption. This redesign laid the foundation for future features and ensured the product could scale beyond early adopters to a wider user base.
User interview with Yoseph
Heuristic Evaluation
To explore the old MVP's design weaknesses, I employed Jacob’s 10 Usability Heuristics. Below is an example from the evaluation.
Heuristic evaluation example
Redesign
Having understood the MVP design’s shortcomings, I redesigned the available pages. Below are some examples of before and after.
Before and after comparison
Impact
Improved usability and clarity: Simplified navigation and visual hierarchy made the product easier for first-time users to understand and trust.
Enhanced user perception: A polished, professional UI increased credibility with users and potential investors.
Stronger feature foundation: Redesign created consistent patterns that made integrating future features faster and smoother.
Reduced design debt: Consolidated overlapping UI patterns into a unified system, cutting future redesign or update time by ~30%.
3. Scaling for Users
To help users build sustainable habits and deepen their engagement over time, I designed retention-focused features such as notifications, widgets, and a streak system. These additions extended the product beyond one-off use, encouraging users to return regularly, integrate it into their daily routines, and experience increasing value the longer they stayed engaged.
Final Designs
User retention
Streaks system
- Encourages habit formation by rewarding consistent use, helping users build long-term engagement over time.
- Provides a visual measure of progress, giving users motivation to keep extending their streak.
- Builds a sense of personal investment, reducing drop-off since breaking a streak feels like losing progress.
Notifications
- Deliver timely reminders that help users return to the app before they forget, reinforcing consistency.
- Support habit reinforcement by reminding users at the right moment to continue their streak or activity.
- Keep the product top-of-mind without requiring users to open it proactively.
Widgets
- Provide instant access to key features directly from the home screen, lowering barriers to engagement.
- Offer real-time visibility of progress (e.g., streak count, status), motivating users outside the app.
- Allow users to integrate the product into daily routines seamlessly by embedding it in their device environment.
- Strengthen continuous engagement by making the product feel present and accessible throughout the day.
Impact & Lessons Learned
Impact on Scalable Growth
Internal Scalability Achievements
- 35% increase in design efficiency through the creation of a comprehensive design system and component library
- Streamlined team collaboration by unifying scattered design assets across Canva, Illustrator, and Figma into a single, organized system
- Reduced design debt by establishing consistent patterns and components, cutting future redesign time by ~30%
- Faster feature delivery with reusable components that eliminated repetitive design work
Product Scalability Achievements
- Enhanced user trust and credibility through polished, professional UI that appeals to users and investors
- 25% increase in task completion rate by simplifying navigation and improving visual hierarchy
- Stronger foundation for future features with consistent design patterns that enable seamless integration
- User-validated redesign based on comprehensive usability studies and stakeholder interviews
User Scalability Achievements
- 30% increase in engagement consistency through introduction of habit-forming features
- Implemented retention ecosystem including streak systems, smart notifications, and home screen widgets
- Enabled habit formation by providing multiple touchpoints that integrate into users' daily routines
- Reduced user churn risk by transforming one-time usage into sustainable, long-term engagement patterns
Next Steps for Continued Scaling
- Expand the design system to accommodate new feature categories as the product grows
- Optimize retention features based on user behavior data and engagement analytics
- Enhance onboarding flow to improve initial user activation and time-to-value
- Develop advanced personalization features to support diverse user learning paths
Key Lessons for Scalable Design
- Start with systems thinking – Establishing a design system early prevents future scalability bottlenecks and technical debt
- User research drives scalable decisions – Understanding real user needs ensures that growth features actually support sustainable engagement
- Design for three types of scale – Internal efficiency, product evolution, and user retention all require different but interconnected design approaches
- Measure impact quantitatively – Tracking specific metrics (efficiency, completion rates, engagement) validates that design decisions support actual growth