Navigation redesign

Designing a scalable navigation system used by 20+ teams

Role & Team

  • Owned end-to-end UX across the project, from flows and high-fidelity UI to usability testing and design system integration. Drove alignment with PM, Engineering, and Data to prioritize effectively and co-led design jam sessions to accelerate ideation.

  • Lead designer on the project, partnering closely with PM and Engineering leads. I also directed a senior designer who owned a related but narrower scope within the initiative.

Problem / Opportunity

The existing navigation was fragmented across surfaces, confusing to users, and increasingly difficult to scale. Teams were implementing divergent patterns, making it harder for users to move between tools. This created friction, increased support tickets, and slowed down onboarding. From the business side, it limited product expansion and increased implementation overhead. We had a tight 6-week window to explore solutions, and the design had to work within existing technical constraints across three codebases.

What I did

Created flows, wireframes, and high-fidelity UI across mobile and desktop. Led usability testing, designed system components for scalability, and co-led design jams to drive ideation. Partnered with PM, Engineering, and Data to align on trade-offs and feasibility.

Approach

I started by mapping user journeys and identifying the highest-friction steps. We explored multiple directions through design jams and async critiques, narrowing down based on technical constraints and business goals.

I validated key assumptions with lightweight prototypes and iterated based on usability testing feedback.

Reflection

This project reinforced the value of designing mobile-first, especially for complex, high-usage workflows. It also highlighted how sharing work early and often — at 30%, 60%, and 90% — helped align cross-team stakeholders and avoid last-minute pivots. The solution we shipped laid the groundwork for future scalability, enabling upcoming features like folders, classes, and item creation.

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