When I joined, the product had some functionality but low adoption and no design process. I was the sole designer for several months and took on the leadership of the area to build a solid foundation:

Implemented Figma as the central tool and created an initial UI Kit.

Fostered a research culture, aligning the team to better understand our users.

Initiated the development of a design system that brought order and visual consistency as the team grew.

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Internally:

1. Establish a clear design process
2. Implement user research
3. Build a Design System

From a business perspective:

1. Improve the product experience to increase retention
2. Begin external adoption of the product (Agencies outside Whalar)
3. Lay the groundwork to turn Foam into a SaaS product for external agencies

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Improvement in internal design processes

Design became more agile, consistent, and collaborative. The introduction of the design system facilitated teamwork and accelerated deliveries.

Improvement in product adoption and retention

Research was essential to understanding our users, though it came with challenges. We were operating in a new and competitive industry where many users were hesitant to share details about their work, fearing that a tool like Foam might automate parts of their tasks.

We chose qualitative interviews as the primary method, which allowed us to build trust and gather honest, key insights.

With what we researched, we were able to increase platform adoption and retention.

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