Increasing the acquisition of hybrid and remote workers with a landing page redesign
COMPANY
MY ROLE
UX Designer
PROJECT TYPE
Volunteer Project
TIMEFRAME
8 weeks—2023
challenge
Prospective users were struggling to understand the platform's offerings and how it would benefit them, leading to low acquisition and conversion rates.
Team & Role
UX Designer: End-to-end from research to high fidelity designs.
Worked with: 3 Master's students & Focused's CEO, Chief Product Officer, and lead engineer.
Skills practiced
Visual Design
Usability testing
Client communication
Information Architecture
Resolved
5 usability issues
Monthly projection
15% increase in sign-ups
Handed-off
1 updated design system
CONTEXT
What if the solution to remote work productivity wasn't another app or system, but the simple act of working alongside others in a distraction-free space?
This is the mission of Focused. It's much needed in today's remote heavy world, with isolation and loneliness on the rise.
the challenge
A great product and mission hidden behind a confusing website
Focused helps remote workers stay productive with morning planning calls and deep work sessions. But when entering their website, first time visitors couldn't figure out what they actually offered and how it would benefit them.
in a nutshell
✅ Focused has a solid value proposition.
🤔 But prospective users aren't understanding it when landing on their website…
🕵️♀️ Let's find out what they're not getting and change it.
Goals
Business 💵: Increase user acquisition and revenue.
Human 🫶: Get more people to be part of this amazing community so they they feel more connected, focused, and productive throughout their day.
The approach
What I discovered through research
We ran 4 user tests, surveyed 27 people, and held stakeholder interviews to understand what was going wrong. The patterns were clear.
key insights
Lack of Trust: Limited social proof and brand recognition as a startup
Information Overload: Too much information overwhelms users
Transparency: Need for more transparent explanation of the platform's features
Vague value proposition: Difficult to understand what value it would bring them
Design Approach
Less text, more clarity, more scannability
Instead of explaining every feature, I focused on showing the core value upfront and making information easy to scan.
Three principles guided my decisions:
Visual hierarchy - Guide eyes to what matters most
Show the benefit - Focus on outcomes, not features
Progressive disclosure - Let users dig deeper when they're ready
Design Rationale
The impact
Several of the proposed design changes are live
✅ 5+ usability issues addressed
✅ At least 5 design changes have been implemented at focused.space
Unfortunately because this was a volunteer project for a limited time, I wasn't able to track how the changes impacted the business. If I were still there when it launched, I'd want to track:
Time on page
Monthly sign-ups
Retention rate
Qualitative feedback about new user experience and expectations
Reflection
What I'll bring with me to future projects…
Adapting to different contexts: Because this was a startup with little time and resources, I didn't get to test and do as many iterations as I would've liked. I learned to fall back on tried and tested design principles when making decisions if I didn't have the resources to test with users.
Design system: As this was one on my earlier design projects, looking back on it, I could've done a better job of documenting my design decisions and creating clear annotations for components. If I were to do this again, I would've asked for more clarity about what they needed in order to effectively implement the design changes.
