This project pushed me to grow not only as a designer, but also as a systems thinker and collaborator.

Without direct user access, I defined pain points through secondary research and stakeholder input. In retrospect, early lightweight validation (e.g. remote testing) would have made our assumptions more robust.

As more designers joined later, the lack of a clear collaboration process caused delays and inconsistencies. I often had to review and refine others’ work before handoff, revealing gaps in both design-to-dev and peer-to-peer workflows.

If I were to lead a similar project again, I would:

• Establish a designer-facing checklist or quality gate, similar to engineering QA, to reduce dependency and improve handoff efficiency.

• Draft clear design briefs before delegation, ensuring alignment on user goals, constraints, and visual standards.

• Facilitate earlier alignment rituals (e.g. kickoff, mid-review) to create shared ownership across the team.

This experience reinforced the value of not only building great designs, but also designing better ways to collaborate.