Lead Product Designer, Vision Advisor
2024 - 2025, Austria
Scope
Product Road Map
UX Design
Design System
UI Design
Prototype
Stack
Figma
Miro
UX Design
Team
1 Designer
2 Stakeholders
1 Developer
Link
workify.at
UX Design
UX Design
This case study isn’t just about a standard design process—it’s a deep dive into product decisions, failures, and pivots. You'll see how the team of 4, 2 stakeholders, 1 designer and 1 developer created the first MVP, why it failed, and how we transformed it into a stronger second version.
At first, I joined as a design executor, tasked with implementing UX best practices and creating a polished UI based on stakeholder requirements. Unfortunately, once launched, initial assumptions proved wrong—user engagement was low, retention dropped, and acquiring new clients became a challenge due to limited product value.
With user feedback validating many of my initial recommendations, I was invited back as a Product Adviser to help redefine the second version. Our goal was to rebuild the MVP with a stronger feature set while reusing existing flows and UI to minimize costs, as the burn rate from the first version had been high.
The idea was to create a tool for business owners to help them connect with and manage their teams. We focused on the key needs of our target market: German-speaking countries.
The main functions of the tool include:
Tracking team mood and providing business owners with insights on how to improve the overall well-being of the company—this feature leverages AI.
Digitizing basic administrative processes, such as requesting sick leave, vacation days, and handling documents.
Offering a team directory, which includes colleagues' details, events, birthdays, and more.
Workify is a solution that includes a mobile application for employees and a web dashboard for employers or managers. The first version focused on AI-powered surveys to gauge team mood and provide valuable insights to employers.
Additionally, we aimed to streamline administrative processes, allowing employees to request vacation, sick leave, and handle other requests directly through the app, eliminating the need to go through their boss.
This concept was provided by the stakeholders. I conducted research to identify the best UX and UI practices, alongside market research to understand the competitive landscape. The product essentially represented a "blue ocean" opportunity—a combination of existing features from various products, aimed at solving unique challenges.
Once the design was complete, we tested it with beta teams, carefully monitoring the user experience and evaluating its potential for successful market adoption.
After the initial launch, we encountered challenges with amount of active users and limited value for company management, which ultimately led to lower sales. However, after a month of testing and conducting user interviews, we received valuable insights that became the foundation for the second version.
I was invited to participate as a product designer and adviser to help shape the new version. This decision was made because many of my initial ideas for the first version—ideas that had been rejected in the original concept—were now considered key elements for the updated product.
We have to narrow down our target market. It would be small and medium-sized teams (up to 20-30 people). These teams are easier to sell to and have less integration friction. As a result, the "mood barometer" feature, was no longer central to the product, as employers could easily see the team's well-being without it. We decided to keep this feature as a secondary one for future testing.
On the other hand, administrative features proved to be highly valuable. They saved time for both employers and employees, allowing them to handle tasks like sick leave requests effortlessly. However, users suggested that integrating time tracking with these administrative tasks would be a great addition, as many of them were using separate tools for time management.
After several rounds user interviews, we decided to make time tracking the core feature of the product. We also recognized that time management, especially in relation to employee/employer relationships, would be crucial given specific local labor laws.
Below, you’ll find more details about the new app structure, how the main screens evolved from the first to the second version, and insights from the design perspective. This case study will focus primarily on the mobile app for employees.
The overall structure remained largely the same in both versions. I divided the application into five main sections. The Home section was centered around the core Time Tracking feature, with additional functionalities introduced in the second version. The Request section allowed users to perform quick actions, while the Profile section stored personal data and a history of requests.
The biggest change between the two versions was in the Company and Team sections. In the second version, they were merged into one, as we integrated a Chat API and created a dedicated space for communication. Below, I will provide more details about each section.
This section saw the most significant changes during the revision. Below, you can find the key differences between the two versions, including a detailed description of the main user flow, wireframes, high-fidelity designs, and success validation.
Here is a comparison of the main screen layouts. On the left is Version 1.0, and on the right is the updated Version 2.0. Since our core functionality shifted from the AI "mood barometer" to a time-tracking system, the main page was redesigned to reflect this change.
I removed the large survey block and reduced the emphasis on the vacation section to free up space for the time tracker and its key elements, such as the timer, main control buttons, and access to the records history. Additionally, I added tracking stats, including overtime hours, at the top of the screen next to the available vacation days to make them more visible.
Another improvement was solving the notification issue by introducing a dedicated notifications section and providing easy access to the full notification list.
Before starting the development of our time-tracking features, I conducted market research and analyzed top competitors to gather best practices. We identified our main competitors as Toggl, ClockoDo, and Hours Tracker.
This board illustrates the time-tracking user flow. At first glance, it may seem straightforward, but in the Workify app, it is closely integrated with the vacation tracking system. I had to consider overtime hours and their conversion into vacation days or payouts. Additional checks were required to determine available hours, contract flat rates, and other relevant conditions.
Based on the user flow, I started working on the first wireframes for the home page. I provided a draft for stakeholders and later finalized the wireframes for the entire flow. We tested them with our beta team, and as a result, 9 out of 10 users successfully completed the flow. During discussions with the developers, we decided to simplify graphic elements to speed up the development process.
High-fidelity design overview showcasing the main screens from the home section.
Validation: The main goal of increasing the number of monthly active users was successfully achieved. We tested the redesign with three beta teams, totaling 68 app users. Our key performance indicator was the number of unique users accessing the app within specific timeframes: a business day, one week, and one month.
As a result of the redesign, active users increased by:
• 1200% per business day (from 5 to 60 users)
• 573% per week (from 11 to 63 users)
• 119% per month (from 56 to 67 users)
As we retained some legacy from our first version and the designs didn't change significantly, below are the final user interface designs for other sections, including Company, Plus Menu, and Profile.
The stakeholders decided to continue with the original approach for measuring company mood for a few reasons.
First, as users now engage with the app more frequently, we anticipated higher participation in surveys, allowing Workify AI to gather more data and provide better insights over time. Second, this feature adds additional value for employers by offering a broader overview of company dynamics, helping Workify stand out from competitors in the market.
To support the "mood barometer" feature, the Workify application includes built-in surveys. In the first version, it provided only one type of response: a slider with a range from 1 to 5. I decided to make it more visually distinct by applying different background colors to highlight the user's selection. Additionally, this approach works well with any customer’s branding.
The Request Menu serves as a hub for quick administrative actions. Users can request vacation or sick leave, convert overtime hours into vacation days or payouts, and submit invoice compensation requests for company-related purchases.
The Profile Section includes a standard set of features, categorized into five subsections: Personal Data, History of Requests, Records History, Documents, and App Settings. The History of Requests is particularly important, allowing users to review, manage, and track statistics for all requests related to vacations, sick leaves, absences, doctor visits, and more. Users can check the current status of their requests, communicate with their manager, and attach necessary documents, such as a doctor's note.
The structured design also allows for the seamless addition of new features to the profile section in the future if needed.
To demonstrate the full scope of the project, I have included a few key screens from the employer's dashboard for team management.*
*These interfaces are primarily related to version 1.0 of the employee app.
The web dashboard for employers is designed to manage team members, their requests, workloads, and other administrative tasks. Employers can also view the team's mood, represented as scores across various topics. The main page serves as the Home screen, showcasing current team statistics, the team calendar, and the overall company mood.
Data collected from the iOS employee app is synced with this dashboard, providing a comprehensive overview for the employer.
The Employee's Profile Page allows managers to review and edit an employee's data, including user permissions. The main feature of this screen is the AI-powered Digital Employee File. This feature collects feedback from managers about their employees, and over time, AI provides recommendations on how to collaborate more effectively to improve overall work efficiency.
This is a concept page that could be used when Workify targets larger companies with branches in different cities and countries. The system would allow management to run company structure, including its various branches and locations.
Multi-themes
An additional bonus for customers is the ability to customize the product theme, similar to how Slack and other tools allow. Accent colors can be changed to align with a company’s branding, making the workspace more personal and connected to the specific company. This customization feature helps reinforce the feeling that the tool is an internal solution.
Bonus: Stakeholders might ask me to change the color scheme for potential customers and present them with a Figma prototype featuring the customer’s branding. This approach helps make the selling process more engaging with minimal effort.
Bilingual
The primary market for Workify is German-speaking countries, particularly Austria and Germany. German is quite specific in terms of word length, so I had to ensure that all translations fit well. I collaborated with the Austrian team, who handled the translations themselves. In the end, we had two versions of the app: one in English and one in German.
Design System. Figma, Variables
As the lead designer, I had to balance investing time and budget into a design system with determining the level of detail needed. Considering factors like branding modifications, the bilingual approach, and the overall product scope, I decided to develop a basic design system for the project. I used elements of Apple HIG as a foundation for the mobile app design, while also creating many custom elements myself.
I worked on the project in Figma, developing a list of color variables: a primitive set for easy branding changes, alongside specific variables for individual elements.
Additionally, I utilized text variables to manage automatic translations. All in-app phrases were linked to these variables, enabling us to test translations with just a few clicks. As a bonus, the product is pre-configured for both light and dark modes, and it's easy to add additional languages.
As the lead product designer for Workify, I guided the design evolution from the initial concept to its second version, focusing on improving collaboration between employees and employers.
User-Centered Design: User feedback was vital in shifting the focus from an AI-powered mood tracker to a time-tracking system, which better addressed productivity and compliance needs
Cross-Platform Cohesion: Ensuring seamless interaction between the employee app and employer dashboard was a key challenge. Clear feature mapping and aligned user flows improved communication and task management.
Adaptability and Customization: Customizable branding and language support made the platform flexible and scalable, meeting diverse client needs.
Data-Driven Decisions: Post-redesign user retention increased, validating our shift to core features like time tracking and streamlining administrative tasks.
Collaboration: Close collaboration with stakeholders and the development team allowed us to pivot the product in a way that aligned with both user needs and business goals.
In summary, this case study highlights how a user-driven design process, supported by data and collaboration, shaped a product that effectively meets both employee and employer needs.
We worked with Maksym, a highly skilled and experienced Product Designer who brought exceptional strategic insights and design expertise to our project. He consistently delivered high-quality work, provided clear direction, and seamlessly integrated with our team.
Maks excelled at navigating complex product challenges, offering valuable input and refining designs to align with our vision. His ability to manage fast-paced, dynamic environments and shape product strategies made him an indispensable asset to our team.