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“a product redesign shouldn’t start with on visuals”
that’s what i told a founder that wanted a redesign
product design comes before ui design 🧐
what i mean by that is…
- you need to find what’s not working,
- why it’s not working,
- and decide how to fix it
then you can polish ui
i then spent 6 weeks on the redesign
it was a platform for independent music managers running their touring operations
touring finance is messy
staff, payroll, cards, reimbursements, reports, bookkeeping, etc. all moving at once
- what wasn’t working: flows were broken, no team management, scheduling was confusing,… etc.
- why didn't work: no system level thinking, hence leading to dead end flows, decision fatigue, and the ui wasn’t the best tbh
- how i fixed them
- stronger dashboard prioritization
- clearer artist navigation
- better team management (it didn’t have any before btw)
- better scheduling views
- simplified card, transaction, and invoice management
- and finally a more mature visual system
the lesson:
a product redesign isn’t just about making the visuals look better
it’s about fixing how the product works first
this is how it looked before btw
footnotes for my fellow designers that didn’t make it into the post:
- the best fintech products reduce decision fatigue, make risks visible (are you expenses vs income and things like that), and have strict access control to control who has permission to do what.
- in an era of...
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A successful business shouldn't lose time to successful growth.
That's exactly what happened to Riley Taylor Tattoo Studio.
My lifelong friend Andrea and her partner Fernando have built an incredible reputation. More clients meant more inquiries, more consultations, more bookings—and more time spent answering the same questions, collecting reference images, coordinating appointments, and managing conversations across Instagram, Facebook, Messenger, email, and phone.
I built Riley Taylor Studio OS—a complete operating system for the studio.
Instead of scattered conversations, every client now follows one structured journey:
• Discover the studio through a modern, mobile-first website.
• Submit a detailed consultation instead of endless message threads.
• Receive confirmations, reminders, booking updates, and aftercare automatically.
• Track the entire process through a dedicated client portal.
• Get instant answers from an AI Studio Concierge before waiting for a human response.
On the studio side, the transformation is even bigger.
Instead of manually piecing together conversations from multiple platforms, every request arrives in one dashboard, already organized and ready for review. AI summarizes consultations, artists prepare quotes, manage bookings, update request status, and keep everything moving from a single Studio OS.
The result isn't just a better website.
It's fewer repetitive conversations.
Less administration.
Better communication.
A smoother client experience.
And, most importantly, more time for Andrea and Fernando to do what they love: create incredible tattoos.
This is exactly why I love building software—not because technology is exciting, but because the right system quietly gives people their time back.
Explore the live project:
🌐 https://rileytaylor.tattoo
There are still 4 days left to join the challenge:
👉 https://on.contra.com/PBPbwH
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jelenastricak_giveitaglow-base44giveitaglowchallenge-activity-7480876494781685760-SfVj?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAACmlhzEBkf_rFZaNY8RuL4ZabiQvNBMNVBw
X: https://x.com/jstricak/status/2075112310176174544?s=20
Project Note
Riley Taylor Tattoo Studio is a real local business. This project was built with the owners' collaboration and permission specifically for this challenge. All tattoos, paintings, and artwork shown belong to Andrea and Fernando of Riley Taylor Tattoo Studio. Client demonstrations use fictional data to protect privacy.
#GiveItAGlow
This is the perfect example of how software should solve real-world problems. Truly impressive work, Jelena! 👏🔥
Been building a portfolio website in Framer for a London-based visual artist over the last few days.
✨Every preview sparks another idea, so I keep tweaking and refining the animations.
Working with such inspiring artworks and collage compositions has made this a really fun creative process.
Here's a quick look at the work in progress. More soon! 🚀
That transition looks cool and attention grabbing ... really fun to see such amazing project
Enterprise design doesn’t have to feel clinical. It can feel like art. Here is a sneak peek into the UI components of Vega. 🛡️💡
Instead of building a massive, overwhelming dashboard grid, we focused on perfecting one isolated card at a time. By combining crisp typography, a soft neutral background, and high-contrast accents, these components pull critical errors out of the noise and turn them into clear, beautiful, and actionable data stories.
Swipe through to see the interaction states—from the AI search input bar to the color-coded metric loops.
Do you think the contrast hierarchy hits the right balance for real-world enterprise operations? 💬👇
Feedback, thoughts, and support are always appreciated. ❤️
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