Elsa Sinuhaji
UX
WAS
HERE
An updated, community oriented UX platform
This redesign of UXwasHere focuses on building a community-driven platform that connects UX advocates to foster collaboration and drive positive change in the design ecosystem.
THE TEAM
Elsa Sinuhaji
Erika Hance
Kobe Stimpson
Linda Jolly
MY ROLE
Experience design
Product manager
Interface design
TOOLS USED
Figma
Adobe Creative Suite
TIMELINE + CONTEXT
2024 — 3 Days
Eunoia Design Competition
1. PROJECT OVERVIEW
✲ Project Context
Matt Karakilic launched UXwasHere as a bold, guerrilla-style project to unite UX professionals in a supportive, solution-focused community. Aiming to provide a safe and collaborative space distinct from the competitive nature of platforms like LinkedIn, the startup relied on part-time work and volunteer initiatives to sustain its vision. The platform offered features like a community forum, event listings, job postings, and messaging, but its early inclusion of social media and job-search functions diluted its core value, hindering meaningful engagement. Between February 15 and March 13 2024, 96.46% of visits went to the landing page, while only 1.61% checked the jobs page, and even fewer engaged with the events 0.39% or feedback 0.19% pages (Eunoia Design Brief, 2024).
As the lead UX designer and product manager on my team, I guided our focus toward addressing UXwasHere's issue of high user turnover and low retention, aiming to create a platform where UX professionals could genuinely connect, collaborate, and derive lasting value.
✲ Our Approach
As UX lead, I was inspired by UXwasHere’s origin story, where Karakilic used UX to address his community’s challenges. The sense of purpose and accomplishment that stemmed from this experience resonated with me, and I wanted to harness that same energy to foster genuine connections and satisfaction. Originally focused on UX professionals, our team recognized the platform’s potential to serve user experience advocates of all levels, making them our central focus. Our goal was to show how UX design can tackle diverse real-world challenges across contexts, similar to Karakilic's own experience. By prioritizing community over competition, we aim to create a space for collaboration and meaningful impact. We narrowed the platform’s scope to Vancouver, its birthplace, to build a smaller, mission-driven community that could unlock the potential of UX advocates and drive positive change in the local design ecosystem.
2. FRAMING THE PROBLEM
✲ Problem Insights
We started by conducting user testing and surveying the existing platform with design advocates as our target users. Here are the three key insights gathered:
INSIGHT 1
There's an oversaturation of platforms that blend social media and job-searching features, leaving users seeking spaces focused on meaningful connections and collaboration.
INSIGHT 2
Users are frustrated by the UXwasHere's lack of focus, outdated tools, and broken functionality, which hinder meaningful engagement.
INSIGHT 3
Users struggle to find a niche, impactful community that aligns with their mission to create positive change through UX and supports long-term collaboration.
✲ The Driving Question
How might we empower UX advocates in Vancouver to nurture community, meaningful connections, collaboration, and long-term growth in order to amplify their personal and professional impact?
3. HOW WE BUILT THIS
✲ Key Challenges
The key challenge when working on this project was striking the balance between the client’s vision and the actual needs of the users. Leading the effort, I synthesized insights from user testing, which showed that users craved a platform centred on meaningful connections and collaboration—not a scattered mix of social media and job-search features. The platform’s ambitious scope, outdated tools, and broken functionality led to frustration and disengagement. I led the decision to prioritize user needs and brand value over the client’s existing vision, opting to simplify the platform and remove unfocused elements in order to create a more meaningful and lasting experience.
✲ Competitor Analysis
User feedback in our competitor analysis showed a clear preference for platforms like ADPList, Design Buddies, and IterateUX for job-searching and networking, citing their established, diverse content. Concerns about UXwasHere’s trustworthiness also emerged, with one participant pointing out that much of the content was created by Matt Karakilic. This highlighted the need for a more focused approach, as UXwasHere’s broad scope lacked the niche appeal and trust that competitors successfully leveraged. We concluded that the platform needed to refine its focus to differentiate itself.
✲ Experience Design Principles
Through secondary research, we explored how to build a community-driven social enterprise that could transform UXwasHere into a virtual third space. Here are the three principles that guided our approach:
ESTABLISH IDENTITY TO DRIVE ENGAGEMENT
Frame networking and digital connections as an extension of identity, both personally and professionally, to boost participation and engagement.
CREATE SHARED PURPOSE
Foster emotional connections in digital spaces by enabling relationship-building and shared activities, while letting users engage at their own pace or depth.
DISTRIBUTE THE ABILITY TO SOLVE
Social platforms for good connect people, enabling collaboration and innovation by providing diverse voices and essential tools to solve problems together.
5. INTRODUCING UXWASHERE - REDESIGNED
✲ Onboard with identity
✲ Landing page
✲ Hurdles: Community problem solving
✲ Vault
✲ Profiles page
4. REFLECTION
✲ We took a risk, and it kind of paid off?
I led a bold approach to the project, fully aware of the risks, particularly regarding client satisfaction. The judges commended our innovation, praising its uniqueness, creativity, and impact, but raised concerns that in revisiting UXwasHere's original story, we strayed too far from Karakilic's vision for the platform. For example, Karakilic had expressed a desire to avoid a local focus, but our research highlighted the need to blend online and offline experiences, which requires a location-based approach. While I understand that, from a business standpoint, it may not be efficient to overhaul the product's core functions to accommodate our proposed changes, I firmly believe in the art of pivoting — embracing changes when it's called for, and prioritizing the user's values and needs.
I understanding that user experience not only asks designers to advocate for the users but also considers how client can feasibly implement these changes. Moving forward, my experience taught me the importance of balancing bold innovation with practical feasibility, ensuring both user satisfaction and business viability.
✲ Another win on my books!
I'm also very proud of our team's time management and my product management skills. Although the competition was just three days, I spent weeks preparing—gathering useful assets, creating a detailed deliverable schedule, reading design books, and sharing key takeaways with my team to help us stay ahead.
✲ :)
Read the judge's feedback here