Case study 16 / 16
UX/UI & Product Design
Community platform UX design: Sync'd
- Client
- Sync'd
- My role
- Co-founder and product lead: UX/UI, web design, business planning and operations
- Timeframe
- 2021–2022
- Discipline
- Creative community · Web platform · Product
(01) The short version
The short version
Sync'd was a passion project: a digital hub where South Africa’s emerging artists, writers and podcasters could show their work and meet each other. As co-founder and product lead, I shaped everything from the editorial direction to the UX. When the app idea proved too heavy, we moved to a web-first platform built on three pillars: Read, Listen, Connect.
(02) The situation
The situation
There was no shortage of talent. There was a shortage of attention. Established names dominated galleries, airtime and search results, and new voices struggled to find an audience or collaborators.
(03) What I designed
What I designed
- 1
Read
A magazine-style layout that puts artwork front and center, without distractions.
- 2
Listen
A podcast page with one-click playback and short interviews tagged by discipline and location.
- 3
Connect
A networking event flow to RSVP, swap details and chat in small themed breakout rooms that opened 15 minutes before each event.
- 4
Curated spotlight
A rotating Artist of the Week banner that brought in applications and page views for new talent.
(04) What happened
What happened
Early feedback from creative Slack groups and social comments pointed to two needs: visibility (work front and center, not buried in a feed) and community (low-pressure ways to meet peers). The platform was built around both.
From the published Sync'd case study.
(05) What I’d tell you
What I’d tell you from this one
A platform’s power isn’t in having more features. It’s in solving the right problems simply. Three pillars beat thirty features.
