SWORP
Property-management software for the Czech Republic. A design system and product redesign that turned into a lesson in ownership, when the senior designer went away for her wedding and the website still had to ship.
Most of my case studies are about what I made. This one is about what happened when I had to make decisions for other people, under a deadline I didn’t set, with someone senior to me trusting I’d handle it.
SWORP needed more than a fresh coat of paint — the product experience and the design system underneath it were being rebuilt, and a new marketing website had to go with it. I was already working on the redesign when the senior designer went on leave for her wedding.
Management asked me to work directly with the project manager and get the new website out the door — about a week and a half. I split the work across myself and two other designers, kept the senior designer in the loop the whole time even though she wasn’t in the office, and made the calls that needed making so the timeline held.
Nobody handed me a “design lead” title. The situation just needed someone to lead, so I did.
The site shipped on time. SWORP picked up paying customers off the back of it — the clearest signal I’ve had that a design decision translated into an actual business result, not just a nicer-looking screen.
Mostly about responsibility and collaboration under pressure — how much a project depends on communication when the person usually making the calls isn’t there, and how directly users’ response to a shipped product validates (or doesn’t) the decisions you made in a hurry.
Still working out the honest answer to this one — I haven’t sat down and picked the week apart in detail yet. Check back.