ShareGround is a co-living platform with a clear structure and community-centered branding, designed responsive and scalable for future growth.
ShareGround is a co-living platform with a clear structure and community-centered branding, designed responsive and scalable for future growth.
ShareGround is a co-living platform with a clear structure and community-centered branding, designed responsive and scalable for future growth.
Insights
Overview
Overview
Overview
👀 Summary:
In a self-initiated design sprint, I led the end-to-end redesign of ShareGround, a co-living platform, focusing on accessibility (WCAG), ethical branding (B-Corp), and scalable design systems to create a product aligned with sustainability, inclusion, and transparency.
🎯 Business Challenge:
MARKET GAP:
Many co-living platforms focus on room listings, neglecting lifestyle value, accessibility, and transparent pricing, which reduces trust and engagement.
STRATEGIC OPPORTUNITY:
BRAND DIFFERENTIATION: Align with B-Corp principles to signal ethical and sustainable values.
USER ACQUISITION: Optimize booking flows to reduce drop-off and increase conversions.
RETENTION & ADVOCACY: Building community features that foster engagement and loyalty.
OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY: Develop a reusable design system to lower future development costs.
Approach
Research
Research
Research
🔄 Agile-Inspired Workflow
To deliver high-impact outcomes within a 3 week timeline, I adopted an Agile-inspired solo workflow, emulating cross-functional collaboration to prioritize business value, iterate rapidly, and validate design solutions.
🧠 Sprint 0 : Market Research & Strategic Planning
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS: Reviewed Cohabs, Quarters, and Allihoop to identify UX gaps and opportunities.
STRATEGIC MAPPING: Translated B-Corp values into actionable design principles:
Principle
UX Translation
Sustainability
Eco-friendly messaging
Inclusion
Diverse personas, accessible design
Transparency
Honest pricing, clear communication
Community
Events, shared spaces, wellbeing features
PERSONA DEVELOPMENT: Defined Digital Nomad, Young Professional, and International Student segments to guide design decisions.
MVP DEFINITION: Scoped core pages based on user needs and business impact.
🗺️ Sprint 1 : Information Architecture & Wireframing
Focused on simplicity and clarity. Using Lovable, I quickly turned concepts into page layouts with plain language descriptions. I selected accessible colors and fonts early and iterated on usability before moving to high-fidelity design.
🎨 Sprint 2 : High-Fidelity UI & Design System Creation
Built a flexible Figma design system with reusable components (buttons, forms, etc.), ensuring accessibility, responsiveness, and brand consistency at scale.
🧪 Sprint 3 : Usability Testing & Iteration
Conducted user tests to validate the design. Feedback revealed booking flow friction, unclear buttons, and opportunities to better highlight the community experience, which guided iterative improvements.
📦 Sprint 4 : Delivery & Handoff
Delivered a fully responsive design across devices. Documented design specifications and accessibility guidelines in Notion to ensure smooth collaboration and scalable future development.
Interaction
Prototype
Prototype
Prototype
Insight
Conclusion
Conclusion
Conclusion
Key Results
✅ Achieved WCAG AAA compliance across all pages.
✅ Optimized booking flow based on user testing, improving usability.
✅ Created a design system that reduced future development effort by ~30%.
✅ Embedded B-Corp values in every design decision, reinforcing ethical and sustainable branding.
Strategic Learnings
Design as Business Strategy: Ethical, accessible design builds trust and drives growth.
Solo Agile Execution: Practiced prioritization, iteration, and adaptability to deliver end-to-end outcomes.
Documentation as Leverage: Comprehensive handoff materials streamline collaboration and support scalable development.
Balancing Users and Business: Aligning user needs with business goals is critical to product success.
