Collabwriting is a knowledge management app that helps users highlight and share snippets online. Users save snippets in a specific topic or the inbox for sorting them later. They can upload and save PDFs in their reader library as well, for creating, saving and sharing highlights from their PDFs.
Project type
UX/UI design
Product design
Timeline
May - July 2025
Problem
Users struggled with:
Stiff dashboard – no retractable navigation, cluttered CTAs, heavy toolbar.
Broken Reader – PDFs opened in full overlay (desktop) or not supported (mobile).
Abandonment – low activation rates, especially among mobile-first users in law & research.
My role
As the sole UX/UI designer, I conducted internal qualitative and quantitative research, gathering key user pain-points and studying competitors to gain insight into current trends in the knowledge management domain. My primary research channels were direct users feedback through the Sleekplan app and through communication with team (enterprise) plan users.
With our extreme ownership policy, I decided which new feature would be developed, backed by thorough research.
Insights
Feedback showed frustration with the navigation, the PDF feature & snippet clutter.
Analytics: activation peaked at 25% but averaged 14.5% from February to May
Legal industry (mobile-first users) had zero engagement with the Reader.
Solutions
Zen Inbox – clean, task-focused, gamified entry point.
New Dashboard – retractable nav, breadcrumb menu, decluttered snippets.
Reader Refactor – PDFs inside topic frame, retractable menu, zoom + search.
Empty States – mascot “Jerry” added for personality & delight.
After a few rounds of iterations, and feedback from the user qualitative research, the third and final design was prototype made. The user opens a new menu through the inbox by clicking the top right icon. When the Zen mode opens, he is presented with all of the unsorted snippets. He has 4-5 most used topics at his disposal that are AI suggested. Through the snippet comment, by simply typing /topic_name the user can select a custom topic. All of the other functions were kept the same.
In an edge case where the user would have 50-100+ topics, an AI bulk select of snippets that are similar would be added in the form of a CTA, but that is left for further testing and iterations.
New dashboard
Given the app’s “bubbly” nature, redesigning the dashboard was a clear opportunity. The snippet panel was rounded, the toolbar integrated more seamlessly, and new elements improved orientation.
Improved reader
The new Reader solved many of the previous PDF issues on desktop and mobile simply by adding:
PDFs integrated into the dashboard
Retractable navigation
Breadcrumb menu
Recent PDF uploads
PDF zoom options and search
Empty states
After decluttering, the app risked feeling lifeless. To add character, I created Jerry, a cat mascot inspired by our startup’s cat CHO. He became the loading animation and empty state companion, giving the app personality.
Yes, I use him as my mascot as well because he is the dearest of all of my original design children.
Results
After launching all of the dashboard and PDF refactoring, the registration to activation ratio began steadily rising, peaking at a 20% increase compared to the lowest point at the start of 2025 with a steady 23% activation rate average.
Improved clarity and task focus.
Reduced visual clutter across dashboard & snippets.
Breadcrumb menu
Legal users re-engaged with PDFs on mobile.
Internal team feedback: “10/10 – huge improvement in usability.”