A trust-first platform for digital document management
Dedoco is a blockchain-powered SaaS platform for document signing and management, often dubbed "DocuSign but blockchain" to emphasise the immutability of document records.
During my tenure, the platform expanded beyond document signing to include digital certificates and forms, enhancing its versatility. Serving high-profile clients such as banks and law firms, it was designed to deliver its core proposition of evoking trust in business processes.
- Led end-to-end design of 0-to-1 features in a small, agile team, eventually becoming the sole designer reporting to the Head of Product.
- Collaborated with cross-functional teams including sales and customer support to gather client requirements, and partnered with product managers and developers through iterations to ship features across the product suite, contributing to securing enterprise contracts.
- Spearheaded the design system initiative, unifying components, styles, and typography to improve efficiency, and conducted Dedoco's first usability tests to evangelise UX research and embed user-centric practices.
I worked on many projects during my time at Dedoco but have selected a few to showcase below. Feel free to reach out if you'd like more information.
Admin Portal MVP
The absence of an administration layer meant clients had no way to govern their own workflows, forcing engineering and support to handle user setup, access controls, and plan management manually through support tickets. I led the end-to-end design of an MVP Admin Portal, working with stakeholders to align client needs with Dedoco's operational goals: mapping the site map for scalability, defining flows for key jobs-to-be-done, producing wireframes for early client feedback, and delivering documentation for engineers. The result was a self-service control point that gave admins transparency over user onboarding, access, and credit spending, while eliminating manual interventions that had been slowing the sales process.
Dedoco's building blocks
Following Dedoco's brand revamp, fragmented workflows and isolated components were creating discrepancies between design and code, and the library was on track to become unwieldy. With limited resources for a full design system, I focused on defining the foundational visual language (colour, typography, spacing) and building a scalable first iteration of the component library. I began by collaborating with engineers to surface implementation pain points, audited UI components in production, and identified redundancies before presenting recommendations for the base library. The initiative tightened alignment between design and development, reducing discrepancies and speeding up implementation.
Dedoco Forms MVP
Dedoco wanted to expand beyond document signing into form submissions, but the forms market was saturated and the team lacked alignment on product vision. KYC emerged as a potential use case, though we had limited insight into specialists' needs. As the sole designer, I produced early concepts of how the form builder could look, presenting different visions to help stakeholders visualise the product direction and steer strategic discussions with founders. I also partnered with the CS team on user testing and ran a strategy workshop to map user stories and prioritise tasks. Research surfaced a key insight: clients didn't want to build forms from scratch, they wanted to digitise legacy PDFs, which reframed the MVP. I then designed the product working closely with engineers to reuse existing components and shorten implementation time.
Redesigning digital certificates workflows
Dedoco's certificate platform existed as a standalone tool, leaving users dependent on engineering and support for onboarding and issuance. With growing client interest in the solution, the goal was to redesign the platform so users could independently manage the end-to-end process from design to issuance. As the only designer on the redesign, I ran focus group sessions to identify critical gaps and collaborated with CS, product, and engineering to deepen our understanding of client requirements. The redesigned platform was ultimately integrated into the main application, improving product visibility, strengthening brand alignment, and setting a foundation for cross-selling.
Wearing multiple hats
My time at Dedoco, though not the longest, was incredibly formative. Working alongside a supportive team, I grew significantly in my craft and confidence. In a fast-paced startup environment, I learned to "find a way and get the job done," emphasising thorough and frequent communication with the team. I developed the ability to speak in a developer's language and align design decisions with business needs and goals.
As a designer in a startup where design maturity was still evolving, I took the initiative to embed user-centered principles within the organisation. I collaborated closely with product managers to establish a continuous discovery process, ensuring user insights drove our decisions. I also came to appreciate that design isn't just about high-fidelity screens, it's equally about clear documentation, fostering collaboration, and setting up efficient internal processes to streamline work and communication.