Case Study > In 30s

The Problem
Customers were citing the outdated, clunky UI as a reason for not choosing our product. Compared to competitors, our interface lacked visual polish and modern interaction patterns.

The Solution
The design team led a two-month UI refresh initiative, guided by a set of core principles:

• Use color and icons to tell the story

• Lighten Visual Page Structure - Minimize lines; Use more fills

• Round Corners & Gradients

• Rounder Typography

These principles helped unify the visual language and create a more modern, engaging experience across the product.

The Impact
In parallel with the redesign, the systems design team collaborated with a newly formed frontend infrastructure team to build a flexible framework for implementing the new UI. This enabled efficient theme rollouts and seamless, non-breaking updates.

The results were immediate: UI complaints disappeared, and the look and feel of the product became a selling point. Customers now say, “I love your UI,” and the interface is no longer a barrier to adoption—in fact, it’s often a differentiator.

My Role
While the systems team focused on updating components in Figma and collaborating with engineering, I was responsible for setting the design direction, defining the guiding principles, and making many of the final style decisions. This was a major cross-functional effort, and I played a key role in driving the vision and style.

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About the Company:

• What we do: SaaS cybersecurity for mid-size and enterprise companies

• Size: 600 employees, still startup-minded

• Design team: 10 Design Team Members, 4 Designers on my team. I am an IC and Director

• Shift in users: Market shifted so personas shifted > from DevOps engineers to security teams focused on outcomes, not fixes

• Product Background: Engineering-led roots caused UX issues as users became less technical

• Customer goals our product solves:

  • Don’t get hacked

  • Don’t break laws

  • Ship features fast