Case 1: Acroplia

Project Overview

Acroplia was an ambitious project to create a unified operating system for collaborative study and work groups. As lead UX/UI designer, I guided the platform alongside my client through a crucial strategic shift based on user and market research. This led us to pivot from a specialized educational tool to a versatile productivity platform for mutually collaborative groups. This evolution was key to securing much more solid funding, expanding the team from 6 to 18 members, and establishing a multinational collaboration model between people in the United States, Russia, and myself as the sole Canadian on the team.

Note: To comply with the confidentiality agreement, the information and visuals presented in this case study are displayed in a limited manner.

Visual representation of the project story or concept

My Role: Product Designer & Strategic Collaborator

From the project's inception, I took on a hybrid role that combined design leadership with product strategy. My key responsibilities were:

Product Design Leadership (UX/UI): I led the complete design cycle, from foundational user research and conceptualization to the delivery of high-fidelity prototypes and the creation of a scalable design system to ensure consistency across the platform.
Product Strategy & User Research: I executed the qualitative research and market analysis that identified the opportunity to pivot. These findings were the basis for transforming Acroplia from an educational tool into a productivity platform, serving as the foundation for the new product strategy.
Team Leadership & Mentorship: I managed and mentored a team of two designers (one Mid-level and one Junior), fostering a collaborative environment and ensuring the consistency and high quality of all design deliverables.
Strategic Collaboration & Fundraising: I worked directly with my client (the project lead) on creating the investor presentations. My role was to translate the product strategy and user solutions into a compelling visual narrative that was fundamental to securing the funding that allowed the team to triple in size.

The Challenge: Finding the Right Market Fit

Acroplia was initially conceived as a project to improve remote interaction in the education sector. The initial hypothesis was that educational groups needed better connection and organization tools.

However, our initial research with users, both teachers and students, revealed a crucial insight: while the need was real, the fundamental problems of remote collaboration, organization, and communication were universal. The market opportunity was much broader than education and freed us from having to invest in initial educational content to make the application attractive and to use the software's unique features as a driver of its viralization, with a less costly marketing strategy.

The Pivot: From a Niche Tool to a Global Platform

Based on this insight, I collaborated to redefine the product's strategy. We shifted our focus to a flexible, general-purpose productivity platform, designed to compete with giants like Slack, Zoom, Monday, and others, but with a unique approach based on unique support and engagement tools.

Result: Ensuring growth and international expansion

The redefined strategy and vision were a success with investors, allowing us to secure financing and expand the operation globally. My commitment included extended stays of up to six months a year in Russia to collaborate directly with our development team.

TEAM GROWTH

from 6 to 18

PROJECT BUDGET

~3 Millions$CAD

MULTINATIONAL HYBRID

Montreal - RemoteLos Angeles - In-PersonYoskar-Ola - In-Person

Driving Strategy Through User Insights

From Persuading to Empowering, but Always User-Focused

In my role of understanding the user, I drew a parallel between the UX Persona methodology and my previous experience in advertising. An advertising brief seeks to understand the consumer to persuade them. In UX, however, the goal was to understand the user to empower them with solutions. I mention this because I believe that this prior communication experience not only helped in defining people's needs but also in better understanding the importance of the product itself and its mission to offer the best concrete solutions to users.

The Power of Active Listening

When we started the project, we created questions to address our initial idea, common needs, and limitations. As we structured the project, we organized specific surveys, covering doubts and identifying potential user needs for each feature. Initially, my client and I would prepare key questions before each interview, but the most important rule for me was to listen, especially in the early stages. By prioritizing active listening, we discovered answers to questions we hadn't thought to ask. These unexpected discoveries gave rise to some of Acroplia's most unique and valuable features.

Resourcefulness and Competitive Analysis

With a tight budget, we leveraged the client's network in California to conduct our first rounds of interviews with schools and student groups, proving that valuable research is built on curiosity, not just resources. Of course, as part of the investigation, we also conducted passive research by analyzing software or sites that offered services similar to what we were going to offer, with the clear intention of improving upon them.

The Evolution of the Target Audience

The first step, then, was to analyze the needs of people in the education sector in both California and Yoshkar-Ola, focusing our surveys on educators, students, and content creators. Later, with the change in strategy, we added another group of people who required a similar, though not identical, interaction. Therefore, we included people who worked on group projects, both professionally and recreationally.

Team Cohesion and Internal Feedback

The persona study was also reinforced by the participation of the entire GXB team. Each member had to project a possible use case for our software according to their profile. This helped everyone better understand the project we were working on, even those less involved in development tasks. This gave us the dual benefit of also getting feedback and better communicating our objectives to all project members, making them part of the process.

Design Methodology & System

At Acroplia, I focused on establishing a solid design foundation to ensure visual consistency and development efficiency. To achieve this, I created a comprehensive design system that defined the platform's rules and components. This included:

Design Foundations: I established a grid system and defined responsive behaviors to ensure a consistent experience across all devices.
Design Tokens: I implemented variables for colors, typography, and spacing, creating a "single source of truth" that facilitated a seamless handoff from design to code. This system was developed before native tools like Figma's "variables" feature were available, demonstrating a forward-thinking approach to system design.
Component Library: Following the Atomic Design methodology, I developed a full range of complex, reusable components—from atomic buttons and icons to complete UI modules—all designed to be fully responsive.
Visual Assets: I managed and created all graphic elements with hierarchical behavior, such as the color palette and typographic fonts, as well as an extensive library of over 250 custom icons and 600+ components that defined the product's visual identity.
Interactive Prototyping: I also created interactive prototypes for both desktop and mobile viewing, sometimes to test functionalities within the team (A/B testing, etc.).

Core Feature Design

Acroplia was a large-scale project with limited resources. My role was to design key features end-to-end in close partnership with the client. Every solution was grounded in both primary (user interviews) and secondary (market analysis) research to ensure we were addressing real user needs. I was involved in the full design cycle for the following areas:

Communication Suite

I designed a complete set of real-time interaction tools, including:

Chat & Video Conferencing: Featuring innovative functionalities like speaker roles, smart assistance, and advanced controls for moderators and listeners.

Learning & Assessment Modules

I created an effective study and memorization tool with:

Multi-sensory content: Supporting both visual and auditory learning stimuli.
Progress tracking: With performance metrics and assessments.
Adaptive review: An intelligent system that adjusted review material based on the user's past performance.

Real-Time Collaboration Tools

Tasked with "breaking the wall of the virtual," I designed three native tools for a more human and connected collaboration experience:

Collaborative text editor.
Virtual Whiteboard.
Shared workspace.

Organization & Productivity Suite

To centralize workflow, I designed a set of management tools, including:

A powerful Drive to organize native and external files.
A novel task manager.
Shared calendars.

Content Publishing & Monetization

I also worked on the business side of the product, designing:

Publishing Features: Allowing private groups to share select content publicly for discovery and purchase.
Monetization Flows: I ideated and designed multiple monetization points, from content purchases to time-based payments.

Surya Jayaweera - GXB Ventures

Strategic Partnerships & Corp Dev; Entrepreneur & Angel Investor

"I've had the privilege of working with Federico ("Fede") Bryans on multiple projects over the years, starting with educational gaming apps for Nintendo DS (2007-2009) and later on mobile apps focused on family, education, and collaboration (2014 onward).

As my partner and Head of Design, Fede consistently transformed ideas into professional, polished products. He's an exceptionally senior UI/UX designer-creative, proactive, and endlessly patient. Even in critical moments, his support and professionalism never wavered.

I would gladly work with Fede again and highly recommend him for any team looking for design leadership and world-class execution. Beyond his skills, Fede is also a genuine pleasure to work with."

Beyond Design: Taking Product Ownership

My work philosophy is rooted in proactive empathy. I believe that when a project succeeds, everyone benefits. This mindset drove me to take the initiative at critical moments, moving beyond my core UX responsibilities to ensure the project's success. Here are two examples:

Solving a Critical Technical Blocker

The development team was facing a significant technical bottleneck with the video call feature, a crucial component for an upcoming investor demo. Recognizing the risk this posed to the project, I took the initiative to research alternative technical solutions. I discovered Jitsi, an open-source software that not only met our core needs but was also customizable. I presented this solution to the team and the client, and it was immediately adopted. This enabled us to build a stable, functional prototype in record time, at a significantly lower cost and time investment, successfully meeting the investor deadline.

Proactively Strengthening the QA Process

I noticed that some usability and UI bugs were being missed by the official Quality Assurance process. To ensure the quality of the final product, I used my own time to conduct a comprehensive analysis, documenting every bug and friction point I encountered. My voluntary report identified a large number of issues, with 15% of them being classified as critical and requiring immediate attention. My client highly valued this initiative, as it directly helped improve the product's stability and the quality of the user experience for the beta release.