Redesigning Mentorship Platform

Check out platform: https://www.stellarup.io/

Thesis: A five-year legacy application with feature bloat needed a design system foundation before iterative improvements could scale.

Outcomes: 50+ reusable components (70% dev time reduction) • DAU: 32% → 47% • 40% increase in successful mentor-mentee matches • 10,000+ messages/month • Contributed to Ruby implementation

Before → After: Feature-bloated legacy app → Systematic, scalable design • Inconsistent UI → Unified design system • 32% DAU → 47% DAU • Manual matching → Smart algorithm-driven matching

The Challenge
Stellarup secured €500K in seed funding with a clear mandate: improve UX and drive sales. The product—a mentorship platform connecting professionals—was functionally sound but, after five years of unstructured feature additions, it was bloated and inconsistent.

What I inherited:
Five-year legacy application with no design system

The brief: Transform UX, establish design foundations, and improve engagement.

I spent two months conducting a comprehensive UX audit—reviewing every feature, mapping flows, and identifying technical debt.

The critical insight: Before fixing individual features, the product required a design system foundation. Without it, every improvement would compound existing debt.

I partnered with Julian Roux-Stevens (CPTO) to build a phased roadmap:

Design System → Foundation for scale

Building the Design System
I led design system development in Figma and contributed to Ruby implementation using ViewComponent (GitHub's architecture framework), Lookbook (component previews), and Stimulus JS (interactivity).

Key Deliverables:
Foundation: Colours, typography hierarchy, 4px grid spacing, icons, illustrations

80+ Components: Buttons (with interaction states), forms (inputs, validation), cards (content, profile, tooltips), sortable tables, navigation, data visualisation

Documentation: Voice, tone, layout principles in Confluence • WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards

Impact: 70% reduction in development time for new features, unified UI, scalable foundation.

UX Refinements & Smart Features
With the system in place, I focused on iterative, data-informed improvements.

Core UX Fixes

Dashboard: Reduced sidebar items using contextual tabs, added tooltips to Insight cards

Smart Matching Algorithm
I designed the UX for a collaborative filtering system that analysed user profiles (skills, goals, industry, availability) and suggested optimal mentor-mentee pairings with match scores.

How it worked: The algorithm analysed profile compatibility and surfaced high-percentage matches with clear reasoning (e.g., "92% match: Both interested in AI product design").

Data Visualisation
I redesigned the Insights dashboard to show:

Impact: DAU improved from 32% to 47%—a 15-point increase achieved through behavioural analytics and A/B testing.

Metric | Before | After | Delta
Daily Active Users (DAU) | 32% | 47% | +15 points
Component Reusability | 0 | 50+ | 70% dev time reduction
Successful Matches | Manual/Low | Algorithm-driven | 40% increase
Monthly Messaging | N/A | 10,000+ messages/month | High Engagement

Systems > Screens
The 70% dev time reduction proved design systems are infrastructure, not cosmetics. Building foundations first enabled everything that followed.

Audit deeply before acting
Two months of understanding legacy pain points prevented building on broken foundations. Strategic patience pays off.

Code + Design = Force Multiplier
Contributing to Ruby implementation let me bridge design and engineering, shipping faster with fewer handoff errors.

Metrics validate, intuition guides
DAU improving from 32% to 47% was the result of data-informed iteration. But building the design system first? That was conviction.

Role: Product Designer
Team: Julian Roux-Stevens (CPTO), Product & Engineering Team
Timeline: October 2023 – present
Impact: 50+ components • 70% dev time reduction • DAU 32% → 47% • 40% match success • 10K+ messages/month