Commudle
All-in-one community management and tech event hosting platform.
Because users couldn't immediately understand the platform's value, many left before exploring communities or participating. The interface communicated information, but it didn't communicate excitement.
Redesigned Commudle into an entry point for the developer ecosystem with an animated Lottie hero, hand-drawn illustrations, community-first hierarchy, world map story cards, and interactive developer profile badges.
“Because users couldn't immediately understand the platform's value, many left before exploring communities or participating. The interface communicated information—it didn't communicate excitement.”
My Role
As the sole Product Designer, I owned the experience from discovery to delivery.
My responsibilities included:
- Product discussions with stakeholders
- UX audits
- Information Architecture
- User Interface Design
- Motion Design
- Illustration & Iconography
- Developer collaboration
- QA during implementation
Project Goals
The redesign aimed to:
Understanding the Product
Rather than immediately opening Figma, I spent time understanding the business.
Through multiple discussions with Commudle's CEO, we aligned on product goals, technical limitations and long-term vision.
These conversations helped uncover what mattered most—not only for users, but for the business.
Key Product Insights
- The platform needed to feel more alive.
- Community should become the primary focus.
- Designs should be reusable for future features.
- Components should be easy for developers to implement.
- Mobile experience could not become an afterthought.
Auditing the Existing Experience
Before proposing solutions, I evaluated the existing experience. Several usability issues became immediately visible.
Existing Homepage Problems
- • Generic navigation
- • Weak visual hierarchy
- • No engaging hero section
- • Low emphasis on communities
- • Inconsistent card design
- • CTA lacked prominence
- • Visual language felt outdated
Why this mattered
Because users couldn't immediately understand the platform's value, many left before exploring communities or participating.
The interface communicated information.
It didn't communicate excitement.
Baseline Performance
The homepage had generated approximately 80–90k engagements over the previous year.
Our objective was to significantly improve that number by making the experience more engaging and easier to explore.
Designing the New Homepage
Instead of treating the homepage as a directory of content, I redesigned it as an entry point into Commudle's developer ecosystem.
Every section now encouraged exploration.
Design Decision 1: Creating a Hero Worth Looking At
The previous homepage lacked a visual anchor. Users landed on the page without immediately understanding what Commudle offered.
I introduced an animated hero that showcased real community members, live events and platform activity within the first screen.
This helped communicate both scale and credibility in seconds.
The animation wasn't only designed for users. It also needed to be practical for developers.
Instead of exporting the animation as a video, I used After Effects + Bodymovin (Lottie) to generate lightweight JSON animations.
This resulted in:
Design Decision 2: Building Personality Through Illustration
Large community platforms often feel generic.
To make Commudle feel more approachable, I created a collection of hand-drawn illustrations and interface doodles.
These subtle details reinforced the platform's friendly personality without distracting from usability.
Design Decision 3: Prioritising Communities
Communities are Commudle's core product.
The redesigned homepage places them at the centre of the experience through stronger hierarchy, improved cards and clearer CTAs.
Users can now browse, compare and join communities much faster.
Homepage Outcome
Within twelve months, homepage engagement increased dramatically:
Homepage engagements — A significant increase over the previous year's performance.
About Page
The original About page failed to communicate what made Commudle unique.
It described the platform. It didn't tell its story.
Design Decision
Instead of relying on paragraphs of text, I created a visual representation of Commudle's diverse ecosystem.
The hero illustration was inspired by a world map, using photographs from real community members to demonstrate the platform's reach.
This transformed the About page into a story about people rather than software.
About Page Results
The redesigned About page attracted more than:
Within four months of launch.
User Profile Page
Developer profiles are the foundation of networking.
The previous experience lacked ways for users to showcase expertise, availability and community participation.
Key Improvements
Community Badges
Introduced achievement badges to reward participation and help members quickly establish credibility.
Freelancer Toggle
Added a simple hiring toggle allowing users to indicate whether they were available for work or hiring. This improved discoverability between freelancers and recruiters.
Community Activity
Designed dedicated sections for Talks given and Events attended. This transformed profiles into professional portfolios instead of static user pages.
Design Principles Behind Every Decision
Throughout the redesign, every solution followed five principles:
What I Learned
This project reinforced that successful product design extends far beyond interface design.
The biggest improvements came from understanding business goals, collaborating closely with engineering and measuring success through real user outcomes.
Working directly with leadership also strengthened my ability to balance user needs with technical constraints and business priorities.