Kangaroo
Kangaroo aimed to create a more interactive and engaging platform for celebrities and their fans, going beyond the passive interactions offered by existing social media.
October 21’ - August 22’ / UX/UI Designer
I joined the Kangaroo team as the UX/UI designer on a design team of two that reported directly to the founder. Before Kangaroo, I had no direct UX/UI experience or familiarity with Figma. While I had a background in visual design, I lacked tangible experience in designing user flows, conducting interviews, wireframing, or prototyping. However, during my time at Kangaroo, I was able to learn rapidly and gain a comprehensive understanding of the UX/UI design cycle while getting hands-on experience. My strong UI skills allowed me to contribute to the team from day one. I considered this role my first bootcamp in UX/UI, and it ignited my passion for continuous learning and growth in the field.
Overview
As the UX/UI designer, I honed my skills in design, user research, and collaboration. I worked alongside another designer to create user flows, wireframes, and prototypes, which I presented directly to the Founder. I participated in product and marketing strategy meetings and led the company rebrand, including redesigning the logo. I conducted qualitative user interviews and usability tests for feature development, validating design decisions along the way. Additionally, I analyzed test data and wrote comprehensive reports, owned the QA process for the app’s user experience, and collaborated with development and engineering teams on a daily basis.
Role
Brand Identity
I joined Kangaroo during the second phase of design, when the team was implementing new features while also focusing heavily on UI redesign and refinement. Although the main flows were established, the overall look and feel needed elevation. Upon joining, I spearheaded the Kangaroo brand refresh.
Typeface
In the first stage, I updated the primary typeface from Open Sans to Montserrat, giving the wordmark more personality and movement.
Sketching
The design team began the logo redesign process by creating 100 sketches, each aimed at reflecting our core design principles. We explored various elements, including the iconic hexagon shape commonly associated with the tech industry, our kangaroo mascot, and creative variations of the letter K.
Brand Principles
We workshopped new design principles to better represent Kangaroo’s direction and guide us in the redesign. These principles evolved from clear, energetic, and creative to techy, bold, and dynamic.
The Final Result
Social
Now that we had our shiny new logo, we needed an Instagram grid to match the new brand. I created textured backgrounds in Procreate to apply across the grid, adding boldness and creativity while retaining continuity.
The final result reflects the Kangaroo brand through our guiding principles. Straddling both the creative and tech worlds, we needed an iconic logo that was both inviting and confident. Simple hexagons come together to form the iconic kangaroo, representing the company effectively.
UI Refresh
Our founder and principal consultants wanted the UI of the app to be refreshed and elevated. I was tasked with redesigning the Profile and the Avatar Editor.
Profile
Based on insights from diary studies with four users over two weeks, it was clear that users valued seeing and personalizing their avatars. They enjoyed customizing their avatars and felt that their avatar was a key part of their experience. However, they disliked only seeing their avatar during gameplay.
Solution: I redesigned the profile to make the avatar central to the user experience. Now, users can view their full avatar—rather than just a circular crop—by sliding down the profile shelf. This change allows users to see their avatar in its entirety and provides an easy way to edit it directly from their profile.
Avatar Editor
Before starting the refresh, we conducted usability testing to uncover users' biggest pain points with the avatar editor. We found that four out of five users didn’t realize they could scroll through the categories, which resulted in indirect success in avatar creation and direct success primarily through trial and error.
Solution: I replaced the horizontal scroll with larger, vertically scrollable category blocks, positioning the last row slightly off-screen to clearly indicate that more content was available. For subcategories, I retained horizontal scrolling but added arrows to guide users on how to navigate through the options.
The Pivot
Due to financial challenges, Kangaroo pivoted to a friendmaking app for women in San Francisco. I co-led the rebranding, updating the logo and overall visual identity to align with the new concept.
Retrospective
If I were in this role today, I would prioritize enhancing user testing and research. For the brand refresh, I would implement 5-second testing to quickly validate whether the design aligns with our principles and assumptions. When redesigning features like the profile, avatar editor, and AI tool, I would conduct usability tests to ensure they are genuinely usable before launch. While moving quickly and shipping frequently is crucial for a startup, it’s equally important to confirm that what we build is both necessary and effective.