OVERVIEW
Timeline
Aug - Nov 2021
Responsibilities
UX Research, Competitive Analysis, Prototyping, UI design, product strategy
Problem
No clear onboarding structure: users lacked guidance.
A rigid, form-heavy approach that felt like paperwork instead of a conversation.
No trust-building mechanisms: users hesitated to share personal data.
Research insights
I analyzed competitors like Tinder and Bumble and fellow startups and also looked over some chat-based interfaces. Key findings were clear:
Users quickly get overwhelmed by long registration processes
A chat-based UI increased engagement because it felt more personal and intuitive.
Users hesitated to provide personal information when it wasn’t immediately clear why it was needed.
💡
In eastern Europe messaging apps like Telegram and VK are dominant digital spaces.
Local users are accustomed to chat interfaces for everything from customer support to government services.
I reimagined onboarding as a conversational experience, replacing monotonous forms with a virtual assistant that guided users through profile setup in a personal and familiar way.
The chat-based UI reduced friction, making onboarding feel like a dialogue rather than a sign-up process.
Gradual Profile
Building
I reimagined onboarding as a conversational experience, replacing monotonous forms with a virtual assistant that guided users through profile setup in a personal and familiar way.
The chat-based UI reduced friction, making onboarding feel like a dialogue rather than a sign-up process.
Developer
handoff
Building this experience required close collaboration with developers to balance aesthetics and feasibility. We refined interaction logic and animations to ensure smooth transitions without overcomplicating development.
Through weekly sprints, I worked with engineers to resolve technical constraints, proposing layout workarounds when needed. A gradual roll-out approach (5% first) allowed us to test the enhanced watching experience on a growing audience, resulting in significant user growth and validation of our strategy.
UI-kit
To ensure long-term consistency, I created a modular UI kit that can be reused across future product iterations. This approach organized components, styles, and interaction patterns into a scalable system.
By documenting each element in Figma with clear annotations, we ensured seamless handoffs between design and development teams, reducing miscommunication and revisions. This structured framework allowed us to maintain design consistency while accelerating development cycles for the entire app.
