SitterSync
Revamped mobile app with bold UI and branding to ensure successful product launch that would resonate with a gen z entrepreneur.
Business Context
In recent years the childcare service industry has seen remarkable growth with increasing reliance on technology and the demand for convenient care solutions. This growth stems from the rise of dual income households and a significant increase of remote job causing a demand for more sitter availability and increased child care benefits.
My Role
Lead UX|UI Designer
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Delivered a scalable design system ensuring 1:1 design-to-development alignment, cutting rework and accelerating delivery efficiency by over 66%.
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Defined a cohesive visual identity in partnership with brand, elevating brand recognition and driving measurable gains in user trust.
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Ensured successful app launch in under 9 months, now available to download.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
How can we develop a brand identity that seamlessly translates to a mobile application, driving user engagement and sitter availability.
My Role
Lead UX|UI Desginer
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Lead Designer for product UI redesign, improving usability engagement
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Collaborated with the brand designer to establish a cohesive brand strategy and visual identity.
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Delivered a mobile design system featuring reusable components for consistency and scalability.
My Team
Lead UX|UI Designer (Me)
Brand Desginer
Director of Engineering/ Co-Founder
CEO/Co-Founder
Market Research
Guided by the Co-Founders' vision, which identified an untapped opportunity that catered to sitters, we recognized the importance of conducting research to understand the perspective of Gen Z individuals aged 13-16 and the competitive landscape.
What I did
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Led user discovery to inform product direction:
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Interviewed 5 Gen Z babysitters to uncover key needs and pain points.
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Spoke with 5 dual-income families to understand childcare expectations and challenges.
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Audited apps and websites of 8 top competitors to analyze features, gaps, and positioning.
Insights
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Sitters find it awkward to ask for payment after the job has been completed.
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Families don't necessarily want a new sitter, they just want a streamlined process to book jobs and know which of their sitters are free.
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Babysitting is a business where parents want a convenient way to schedule a job with their trusted sitters and sitters want to get paid.
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Competitor branding largely features similar light color palettes and lacks distinctive styling, making it difficult for any one app to stand out.
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Potential differentiator to provide sitters with key insights and analytic to better track their habits and earning potential.
Screenshot of competitive research
Brand Identity
Using these insights, the brand designer and I began gathering content and language that resonated with the Gen Z point of view.
Brand language
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Bold
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Vibrant
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Cheerful
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Zesty
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Bright
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Direct
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Empowerment
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Action
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Tech-savy
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Engaged and Aware
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Unique
From this exploration, the brand designer curated brand guidelines which I used to inform the product design direction.
Design
This app was acquired by the Founders with the goal to reuse the underlying code but update the visuals and key features that would enhance user engagement.
Another key aspect of this app is its dual interface: one for sitters and one for families.
While both sides share a consistent aesthetic, key information and workflows were tailored to meet the distinct needs of each target audience, the most notable being differences in insights and financial need assistance.
Design System
Built a lightweight, scalable design system using Figma components and variables to drive visual and functional consistency across the app, enabling a small design team to move faster and maintain quality while the brand designer focused on marketing assets.
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Accessible color palettes and distinct typography that seamlessly translates into the application based on branding guidelines.
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Actionable design assets that translates design into real life code and user experiences.
Typography Scale
Accessible Product Color Variables + Tokenized Naming Convention
Created a repository of frequently used components that will be updated as designs evolve.
Established 15 reusable components with a total of 482 variants and counting!
Feature Work
While building the design system, I collaborated directly with the lead engineer and CEO to define acceptance criteria. We began by prioritizing features, focusing on redesigning the pre-existing application.
Product Feature Breakdown
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Pre-Signup and Login
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Your Info
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Phone Verification
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Add Contacts
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Preferred Payment
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Onboarding
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Home Screen
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My Families/My Sitters
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New Jobs
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Notification Center
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Insights Dashboard
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FAB Quick Action Overlay
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Insights Dashboard
Design Process
During the design phase I needed to work efficiently to meet tight turnaround deadlines partnering closely my clients to ensure a successful launch of their product in under 9 months.
Quick and frequent iterative sessions were key to gaining the feedback I needed to create a final product which is live in the app store today.
Lessons Learned
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Moving fast and shipping early helped me get real feedback and iterate quickly which led to a successful launch in under 9 months.
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Building reusable design components with exact developer mapping reduced rework and sped up collaboration.
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Translating brand values into the user interface made the app feel unique and built trust with users.
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User research revealed real pain points that shaped features and improved the overall experience.
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Thinking beyond core flows by adding sitter analytics and subtle features increased long-term value and retention.
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Designing the full ecosystem including onboarding, notifications, and quick actions improved usability and satisfaction.
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Getting clear on business needs early lets me focus priorities and deliver efficiently.
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