Work
About

Project Hail Mary

While seeking the right product-market fit, we at Strigo worked on a new offering called "The Academy." Essentially, this learning tool is integrated into customers' web products, enabling them to add courses that teach the best use cases of their product.

This project was the last chance to increase sales and get new funding. In a way, we could call it our "Project Hail Mary".
Role
Design lead
Company
Strigo - startup
Duration
March - July 2022
Scope
MVP

A gap in the market

Strigo has identified a market gap regarding how to teach users about complex SAAS products at scale. Currently, there are only two available methods:

Digital adoption platforms (DAP)

Primarily used for onboarding, allowing interaction with the product but lacking depth in teaching complex concepts.

Learning management systems (LMS)

Originally built for universities, these standalone platforms teach broad concepts but remain disconnected from the product experience and lack interactivity.

The goal

Create a seamless, engaging, and scalable in-app learning experience to guide users through key features of the product.

The solution

The Academy provided contextual, hands-on courses embedded within
users’ products.

The challenges

1
Lack of Context
The training was disconnected from the user’s workflow, making applying lessons harder.
2
Low Engagement
Without gamification or progress tracking, users lacked motivation, leading to high course drop-off.
3
Measuring Impact
Users and businesses couldn’t track how training affected product adoption or business outcomes, limiting the value of learning efforts.

Using user interviews to define the MVP

Real users’ quotes (although the images are stock images)

Creating design assumptions from user interviews

Contextual Learning
Users benefited from in-app contextual training that was aligned with their tasks.
Simplicity and No-Code
Users wanted a simple, intuitive platform with no technical barriers
to entry.
Engagement through Gamification
Adding gamification elements, such as progress tracking and rewards, would increase completion rates.
Scalability
Businesses needed an easily scalable solution for creating and managing training content.
Analytics for Impact
Detailed course performance tracking was necessary to measure business impact and optimize learning paths.

Using competitive analysis to establish priorities

Prototype, test ideate  

I designed a prototype to validate our assumptions and find a design partner. The prototype showcased key features and had an appealing design to engage users.
The prototype in-depth images
The prototype

From prototype to an MVP

1

Creating white label
style guide

2
Creating user-generated content
3
Improving orientation
4
Adding minor enchantments

Creating white label style guide

One of the main challenges in implementing The Academy into users' products was the requirement for branding alignment. The product team insisted that The Academy had to match their style guide, leading to a difference in the user interface for the MVP.
1
Creating white label style guide
2

Creating user-generated content

3
Improving orientation
4
Adding minor enchantments

Creating user-generated content

The app's central area featured user-generated content.
I established rules to maintain consistency in formatting, design principles, and visual hierarchy.
1
Creating white label
style guide
2
Creating user-generated content
3

Improving orientation

4
Adding minor enchantments

Improving orientation
to create trust and boost engagement

Prototype
Iteration
MVP
1
Creating white label
style guide
2
Creating user-generated content
3
Improving orientation
4

Adding minor enchantments

Adding minor enchantments

We continuously refined features based on user feedback, incorporating small but impactful enhancements like animations and notifications to encourage engagement and motivation throughout the course.

The MVP

What I have learned

#1 Navigating the MVP definition dilemma

Defining what qualifies as a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) can be overwhelming. As a team, we have had multiple disagreements while determining the components of an MVP. However, this process has been enlightening and helped me understand my stance on MVPs while revealing that the question remains unanswered.

#2 Asking why

When working towards an MVP, knowing when to pause and ask "why" was crucial, even if the answer seemed obvious.

#3 Constraints lead to creativity

Constraints often drive creativity. This project had many technical limitations, and working together to overcome them felt like an achievement. Sometimes, these constraints even resulted in better design solutions.

Failed at last

It didn't work. We have failed

The Academy did not achieve its goals, and we failed to secure Series B funding. As a designer, it’s a familiar experience to see your work fade into the depths of the web’s archive. Despite this, I learned a great deal from the project, and I truly believe that, given more time, this product could have found its place in the world.
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