My Role

As the sole product designer, I'm focused on translating this technically elegant system into a usable, engaging product for everyday people. My responsibilities include:

• Exploring how Kudos can be introduced to general consumers through a lightweight app
• Designing and leading early discovery research to understand how people currently give and receive appreciation online
• Defining key use cases and interaction patterns for giving, receiving, and viewing kudos
• Collaborating with stakeholders to balance protocol integrity with user-friendly design
• Identifying barriers to adoption and ways to simplify onboarding and reward mechanics
• Mapping out early user flows and sketching potential MVP experiences

Key Deliverables

• Research plan to guide user interviews and testing
• Scheduled and facilitated user interviews (in progress)
• Synthesized insights from interviews: user motivations, pain points, and gaps in current appreciation tools
• Early feature concepts and flows for giving kudos, viewing history, and linking kudos to economic value
• Ongoing recommendations for making Kudos more intuitive, flexible, and adoptable

Results / Impact (So Far)

• Established foundational understanding of how people perceive recognition and value in digital spaces
• Identified emotional and practical drivers that could make Kudos meaningful to users
• In the process of shaping the first app prototype to test product-market fit and encourage adoption
• Laying the groundwork for a system that could scale into everyday online interactions—bringing visibility and compensation to contributors across platforms