Client: Norwegian governance-tech startup (B2B SaaS)

Timeline: Sep 2023 – Jun 2024 (9 months)

My role: Solo Product Designer — UX research, prototyping, UI, design system, dev handoff

Stack: Figma, ClickUp, Google Meet (user interviews)

The product addressed a clear gap: ineffective corporate governance increases overhead, delays decisions, and harms shareholder value. Financial data, strategic documents, and meeting follow-ups were scattered and hard to access.

When I joined, 21st was in private beta with MVP features, tested by a focus group from the founders' network. We refined the UVP around governance efficiency and meeting best practices. Goals: reduce onboarding friction, improve collaboration, and prepare for mobile (the product was desktop-only).

The existing Figma files had critical issues:

❌ Inconsistent styling — hard for devs to follow

❌ Scattered contextual elements with no clear structure

❌ Detached component instances, poor naming

✅ Fixed and rebuilt components with atomic design methodology

✅ Introduced Figma variables and design tokens

✅ Refined styles (colors, typography, spacing)

✅ Reviewed and fixed all major pages

Delivered the new structure in two weeks, with ongoing expansion throughout the project.

Refined 4 existing feature areas based on focus group feedback:

↗ Meetings (key feature) — custom agendas, invitation management, layout improvements

↗ User Acquisition — streamlined verification to reduce bounce rate

↗ Company Dashboard — consistency fixes, layout and UX refinements

↗ Website — general refinement aligned with business requirements

↗ Personal Dashboard — a new starting space for users, driven by expanded information architecture

↗ My Documents — centralized library for all user documents and assets

↗ Onboarding — product tour for new users

↗ AI Web Scraper + Industry Catalog — enhanced search, industry registry, AI-generated company profiles

↗ Mobile Version — full mobile optimization and missing pages

Low-fidelity prototypes (sketches, wireframes, flowcharts) served as rapid validation tools within the product team.

↓ Here are three examples of low-fidelity prototypes in Figma

High-fidelity prototypes were organized into 200+ distinct scenarios — comprehensive user flows covering all possible actions per feature, maintained as an evolving source of truth.

↓ Below are three examples of prepared scenarios ready for user testing. Each includes both desktop and mobile screens.

A showcase of the 21st interface, highlighting its key features and overall aesthetic.

I ran remote usability tests using the Wizard of Oz method. I shared scenarios on screen without describing flows — participants told me what they'd do next at each step. This yielded richer qualitative feedback than surveys and gave us early signals before committing dev resources.

Failed tests triggered refined scenario versions, validated internally, then retested. Iterative process continued until all major usability issues were resolved.

Design system maintained with atomic structure, semantic variables, and dev-ready labeling. Every component, page, and scenario was marked and linked to its ticket with annotations where needed.