U-find — building a design system for a growing workplace technology startup

Overview

U-find was a Portuguese startup developing smart workplace management solutions for the rapidly changing world of hybrid work.

The platform combined desk booking, meeting-room reservations, occupancy monitoring, visitor analytics and workplace intelligence into a single ecosystem supporting employees, facility managers and businesses.

My role was to establish a consistent design foundation that could support multiple digital products while giving the young company a more mature and recognisable visual identity.

↗

The challenge

Hybrid work was becoming the new normal. Companies needed better visibility into how offices were being used, while employees expected flexible ways to reserve desks, meeting rooms and shared resources.

The challenge was not designing a single application. It was creating a coherent experience across several products that served very different users while keeping the interface simple despite the complexity of the underlying data.

Creating a shared design language

Before expanding individual interfaces, the first priority was creating a common design language.

A lightweight design system was developed in Figma to ensure consistency across web applications, mobile applications, the marketing website and future product features.

The system established reusable components, typography, colour rules, spacing and interaction patterns that allowed the product to evolve without reinventing the interface every time a new feature was introduced.

Designing multiple experiences

The platform served several different audiences, each with their own goals.

Employees needed a fast and intuitive way to reserve desks and meeting rooms. Facility managers required occupancy insights and operational dashboards. Businesses relied on analytics to understand how physical spaces were being used.

Designing these experiences meant balancing simplicity for everyday users with the richer information required by administrators.

↗

Product design

The collaboration included the design of multiple connected products:

• desktop web application
• mobile application
• marketing website
• interactive prototypes
• developer-ready design specifications

Rather than designing isolated screens, the work focused on creating one coherent experience across every platform.

↗

From components to products

Once the design system was established, it became the foundation for the rest of the project.

Reusable components accelerated interface design while improving consistency between products and making collaboration with developers significantly more efficient.

The result was a scalable design approach rather than a collection of individual mockups.

↗

Collaboration

The project was delivered within an international remote team using collaborative design workshops and asynchronous communication.

Figma served as the primary design environment, while Miro and Mural supported brainstorming, workflow discussions and product planning. Working closely with developers and stakeholders helped ensure that design decisions remained practical, implementable and aligned with business goals.

Results

The project delivered a unified design foundation supporting U-find’s product ecosystem across web, mobile and marketing touchpoints.

More importantly, it demonstrated how design systems can help young startups scale products more efficiently by creating consistency from the very beginning.

In 2023, U-find was acquired by Crowdkeep.

Approach & Learnings

Design systems are often seen as collections of reusable components. For me, they are something broader.

They create a common language that allows products, teams and future features to grow together without losing consistency. That shared foundation became one of the most valuable outcomes of this project.

Services delivered

• Product design
• UX/UI design
• Design system
• Component library
• Mobile app design
• Web dashboard design
• Website design
• Interactive prototyping
• Developer handoff
• Information architecture
• Cross-functional collaboration