The Vocabulary of UX, and How to Speak in Full Sentences
Two case studies, one steep learning curve — how designing a sustainable skincare app taught me the fundamentals of UX, and how a luxury sleep brand pushed me to go further.
UX Design
Process
Case Study
Starting With NaturCycle
NaturCycle was where I learned that good UX starts long before you open Figma — it starts with a person.®
NaturCycle began as a question: how do you design an app for a sustainable skincare brand without the sustainability part feeling like a lecture? I started with research — interviews, an empathy map, a validated persona named Khloe who was tired of guessing whether "clean" claims were real and tired of routines with too many steps. Everything after that, the wireframes, the IA site map, the product and cart flows, was really just an attempt to answer her frustrations directly instead of decorating around them. It was my first time carrying a project from a validated persona all the way through to interactive screens, and it taught me that the hardest part of UX isn't the interface. It's resisting the urge to design before you actually understand who you're designing for.
Growing Into Bloom & Bea
Bloom & Bea asked a harder question: not just what does the user need, but what does the brand deserve?®
By the time Bloom & Bea came around, I wasn't just designing screens, I was designing a system. The information architecture stretched across five sections (Discover, The Edit, Materials & Craft, Our Values, Support), and instead of one linear flow, I was mapping and A/B testing homepage directions to see which actually served a luxury sleep and loungewear brand best. I built out low and mid-fidelity wireframes across nine screens, then layered in a full visual identity — Futura PT, Freight Display Pro, and Acumin Pro against a palette anchored by deep plum, blush, and berry — and backed the whole thing with a business model canvas so the design decisions had a business reason behind them, not just a visual one. I even tried wiring up a Figma MCP integration to speed up the workflow. It didn't work out, and that was a useful lesson too: not every shortcut is actually faster.
What Changed Between the Two
The biggest shift wasn't in my tools — it was in how much further back I was willing to start.®
Looking back, NaturCycle taught me the vocabulary of UX: personas, empathy maps, user flows, the basic grammar of designing for someone other than yourself. Bloom & Bea is where I learned to speak in full sentences — tying architecture, testing, visual systems, and business strategy into one coherent story instead of treating them as separate steps. Both projects still start the same way, with a person and a problem. What's different now is how much of the picture I try to hold in my head before I ever open a design file.
FAQ
01
What does a project look like?
02
How is the pricing structure?
03
Are all projects fixed scope?
04
What is the ROI?
05
How do we measure success?
06
What do I need to get started?
07
How easy is it to edit for beginners?
08
Do I need to know how to code?
The Vocabulary of UX, and How to Speak in Full Sentences
Two case studies, one steep learning curve — how designing a sustainable skincare app taught me the fundamentals of UX, and how a luxury sleep brand pushed me to go further.
UX Design
Process
Case Study
Starting With NaturCycle
NaturCycle was where I learned that good UX starts long before you open Figma — it starts with a person.®
NaturCycle began as a question: how do you design an app for a sustainable skincare brand without the sustainability part feeling like a lecture? I started with research — interviews, an empathy map, a validated persona named Khloe who was tired of guessing whether "clean" claims were real and tired of routines with too many steps. Everything after that, the wireframes, the IA site map, the product and cart flows, was really just an attempt to answer her frustrations directly instead of decorating around them. It was my first time carrying a project from a validated persona all the way through to interactive screens, and it taught me that the hardest part of UX isn't the interface. It's resisting the urge to design before you actually understand who you're designing for.
Growing Into Bloom & Bea
Bloom & Bea asked a harder question: not just what does the user need, but what does the brand deserve?®
By the time Bloom & Bea came around, I wasn't just designing screens, I was designing a system. The information architecture stretched across five sections (Discover, The Edit, Materials & Craft, Our Values, Support), and instead of one linear flow, I was mapping and A/B testing homepage directions to see which actually served a luxury sleep and loungewear brand best. I built out low and mid-fidelity wireframes across nine screens, then layered in a full visual identity — Futura PT, Freight Display Pro, and Acumin Pro against a palette anchored by deep plum, blush, and berry — and backed the whole thing with a business model canvas so the design decisions had a business reason behind them, not just a visual one. I even tried wiring up a Figma MCP integration to speed up the workflow. It didn't work out, and that was a useful lesson too: not every shortcut is actually faster.
What Changed Between the Two
The biggest shift wasn't in my tools — it was in how much further back I was willing to start.®
Looking back, NaturCycle taught me the vocabulary of UX: personas, empathy maps, user flows, the basic grammar of designing for someone other than yourself. Bloom & Bea is where I learned to speak in full sentences — tying architecture, testing, visual systems, and business strategy into one coherent story instead of treating them as separate steps. Both projects still start the same way, with a person and a problem. What's different now is how much of the picture I try to hold in my head before I ever open a design file.
FAQ
01
What does a project look like?
02
How is the pricing structure?
03
Are all projects fixed scope?
04
What is the ROI?
05
How do we measure success?
06
What do I need to get started?
07
How easy is it to edit for beginners?
08
Do I need to know how to code?
The Vocabulary of UX, and How to Speak in Full Sentences
Two case studies, one steep learning curve — how designing a sustainable skincare app taught me the fundamentals of UX, and how a luxury sleep brand pushed me to go further.
UX Design
Process
Case Study
Starting With NaturCycle
NaturCycle was where I learned that good UX starts long before you open Figma — it starts with a person.®
NaturCycle began as a question: how do you design an app for a sustainable skincare brand without the sustainability part feeling like a lecture? I started with research — interviews, an empathy map, a validated persona named Khloe who was tired of guessing whether "clean" claims were real and tired of routines with too many steps. Everything after that, the wireframes, the IA site map, the product and cart flows, was really just an attempt to answer her frustrations directly instead of decorating around them. It was my first time carrying a project from a validated persona all the way through to interactive screens, and it taught me that the hardest part of UX isn't the interface. It's resisting the urge to design before you actually understand who you're designing for.
Growing Into Bloom & Bea
Bloom & Bea asked a harder question: not just what does the user need, but what does the brand deserve?®
By the time Bloom & Bea came around, I wasn't just designing screens, I was designing a system. The information architecture stretched across five sections (Discover, The Edit, Materials & Craft, Our Values, Support), and instead of one linear flow, I was mapping and A/B testing homepage directions to see which actually served a luxury sleep and loungewear brand best. I built out low and mid-fidelity wireframes across nine screens, then layered in a full visual identity — Futura PT, Freight Display Pro, and Acumin Pro against a palette anchored by deep plum, blush, and berry — and backed the whole thing with a business model canvas so the design decisions had a business reason behind them, not just a visual one. I even tried wiring up a Figma MCP integration to speed up the workflow. It didn't work out, and that was a useful lesson too: not every shortcut is actually faster.
What Changed Between the Two
The biggest shift wasn't in my tools — it was in how much further back I was willing to start.®
Looking back, NaturCycle taught me the vocabulary of UX: personas, empathy maps, user flows, the basic grammar of designing for someone other than yourself. Bloom & Bea is where I learned to speak in full sentences — tying architecture, testing, visual systems, and business strategy into one coherent story instead of treating them as separate steps. Both projects still start the same way, with a person and a problem. What's different now is how much of the picture I try to hold in my head before I ever open a design file.
FAQ
What does a project look like?
How is the pricing structure?
Are all projects fixed scope?
What is the ROI?
How do we measure success?
What do I need to get started?
How easy is it to edit for beginners?
Do I need to know how to code?