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UX/UI Design

5-Day Design Sprint

PostUp – Remote Work Cafe Finder

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Mobile app concept helping remote workers find reliable, well-equipped workspaces; so they can focus on productivity instead of searching.

 

​Solo project — research, design & testing · Mentored by a Senior UX Designer

 

Problem

Remote workers waste time guessing which cafes have reliable Wi‑Fi, outlets, and a work‑friendly vibe because existing reviews are geared toward diners, not workers.

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My Role

Solo product designer running a 5‑day Google Design Sprint under the mentorship of a Senior UX Designer.

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Outcome

A validated prototype that gave remote workers a faster, more trustworthy way to choose a workspace using work‑specific ratings and filters.

01 IMPACT

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Results

60% 
Increase in Trust

3 of 5 testers said onboarding made results feel more personalized and dependable than Google or Yelp.

33% 
Time Saving

Smart filters and the Workability Rating helped participants make decisions a third faster.

30% 
Stronger Engagement

Live busyness graphs and crowdsourced Q&A reduced second-guessing and created a sense of community.

02 CONTEXT

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Background

PostUp is a startup focused on helping freelancers and remote workers find great coffee shops and public spaces to work from.

 

The team had already conducted user interviews, and my role was to:

  • Extract key pain points and needs from their research.

  • Translate findings into persona insights and a concrete challenge statement.

  • Run a 5‑day Google Design Sprint to explore, prototype, and test potential solutions.

The Challenge​

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Remote workers often struggle to find reliable places to work between meetings, especially when they’re on the move. Information about Wi‑Fi, outlets, noise, and crowd levels is fragmented across Google and Yelp reviews, which are usually written for diners rather than workers

The Goal

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Design and validate a mobile app that helps remote workers quickly find, compare, and trust work-friendly spots so they can focus on productivity.

Requirement

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1. Mobile app for on-the-go access

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2. Discover existing spaces (cafes, libraries, lounges)

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3. $5.99/month subscription mode

From Concept to Prototype in 5 Days

Google Design Sprint is a focused five-day framework that helps teams solve key business challenges by designing, prototyping, and testing ideas with users.

GV_Design_Sprint_Workflow.webp

Google Design Sprint Workflow

Source: The Sprint Book / GV.com

03 DAY 1: MONDAY

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Understand & Map

Synthesize research findings

I started by reviewing the PostUp team’s interviews with remote workers to identify recurring pain points, motivations, and behaviors.

1 ) Meet Nina - Persona

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Nina is a freelance copywriter who’s often on the go, juggling client meetings and remote work around the city. She needs reliable, quiet spaces with Wi‑Fi and basic amenities so she can get things done without wasting time searching for the right spot.

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  • Needs: Quick, reliable way to find work‑friendly spots with Wi‑Fi, outlets, and seating.

  • Pain points: Generic reviews, outdated information, and trial‑and‑error when choosing locations.

  • Behaviors: Uses Google Maps and review apps, messages friends, and often settles for “good enough” because she’s short on time.

Persona1

Persona: Nina - Freelance Copywriter

Persona3

Persona Nina's Behavior Patterns

2 ) Journey Mapping​

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I mapped Nina’s journey from needing a place to work → searching → assessing options → choosing a spot → working there. This helped identify critical moments where she:

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  • Feels rushed between meetings.

  • Struggles to interpret generic reviews for work purposes.

  • Worries about noise, Wi‑Fi, and outlets only after arriving.

User Experience Journey Map_edited.jpg

Persona Journey Map

How Day 1 shaped the sprint​

​By the end of Day 1, I had a clear picture of Nina and her end‑to‑end journey, which removed ambiguity about who I was designing for and where to focus. This clarity let me target the most critical moments like finding a spot between meetings and judging “workability” at a glance so the rest of the sprint moved faster and every sketch, storyboard, and screen stayed anchored to real user needs.

04 DAY 2: TUESDAY

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Ideate & Sketch

To generate potential solutions, I used structured ideation activities. I explored solutions through Lightning Demos, and Crazy 8’s to gather inspiration and rapidly sketch possible design approaches.

Lightning Demos​​

​User interviews show that most users choose Google Maps to find places to work remotely. To understand what works well and what’s missing, I explored Google Maps, Yelp, WorkFrom, and LiquidSpace, focusing on their search and filter experiences for inspiration. 

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  • Collected examples from apps that solve similar problems (discovery, rating, filtering, and trust) in other domains.

  • Highlighted patterns like preset filters, summary scores, and quick‑glance cards that could translate well to PostUp.

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From the lightning demos, I learned that filters need to be quick to apply and easy to find, and that giving Nina the ability to save her presets would let her reuse preferences effortlessly a big time-saver when she’s in a rush.

DesignSprint_Lightning Demos.jpg

Lightning Demos

Crazy 8's​​

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Ran a Crazy 8’s session to sketch multiple variations of key screens and interactions in a short time. Explored different approaches to:

  • Highlight work‑friendly attributes on location cards.

  • Present a composite “Workability Rating.”

  • Make filters fast and intuitive for someone in a rush.

Crazy8.png

Crazy 8 Sketches

How Day 2 shaped the sprint​

​By the end of Day 2, I had a wide range of sketched solutions and clear patterns drawn from Lightning Demos and Crazy 8’s, which made it easier to see what consistently supported remote workers’ needs. This divergent work gave me concrete options to choose from on Day 3 and ensured the storyboard was built from tested ideas like work‑specific filters and a “workability” view instead of a single, unexamined concept.

05 DAY 3: WEDNESDAY

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Decide

I moved from many ideas to one clear flow that best served Nina’s needs.​

Storyboard

Explored several storyboard variations showing Nina’s full journey from needing a place → opening PostUp → choosing a cafe → getting to work.

The final storyboard combined:

  1. A map with wifi connection info and power outlet counts, so Nina could instantly see which spots were a good fit.

  2. Quick filter chips for essentials like noise level info, bathroom, and quiet spaces, letting her apply priorities without extra steps.

  3. Detail cards with visual badges that summarized amenities at a glance, so she didn’t have to dig through long reviews.

Storyboard.png

Story Board

06 DAY 4: THURSDAY

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Building the Prototype

I translated the storyboard into a clickable prototype turning abstract ideas into a real flow Nina could use.

 

  • Designed key screens in Figma, including home, search results, location details, and Q&A or review components.

  • Focused on a clean, work‑oriented visual style that supports quick scanning, with clear hierarchy and simple interactions.

  • Implemented elements like preset filters and a Workability Rating so participants could experience the core value in testing.

Onboarding​​

​​Users quickly set top priorities (Wi-Fi, outlets, food, restrooms) to personalize results from the start. Selections can be modified anytime.

Mainlist​​

Spots filtered by priorities. Preset filters save automatically so Nina doesn't reset them each time.

Detail Pages​​

Workability Rating, live busyness data, amenities, and crowdsourced Q&A for real-time updates.

07 DAY 5: FRIDAY

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User Testing

I tested the prototype with five remote workers to see how well PostUp met Nina's needs.​

 

What Worked Well​​

Onboarding

Onboarding​​

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"Choosing my top three at the start made the whole experience faster. I didn't have to dig around."​

Preset Filters

Preset Filters​

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"I like that it remembers what I want. I don't have to set it up every time I use it."​

Workability Rating

Workability Rating​​

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"I could quickly compare cafes without reading a ton of reviews."​

Live Q&A​​

Live Q&A​​

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"It feels like having other remote workers looking out for me."

​What Needed Refinement​

Confusing terminology

The "Space" filter chip was unclear and could cause confusion in time-sensitive situations.

Missing Details

Participants wanted menus and prices to make more informed decisions.

Pricing Concern

Users saw PostUp's value but felt the fee was too high suggested a lower price or freemium model.

Testing showed that preset filters, the Workability Rating, and real-time Q&A directly support saving time, making confident choices, and avoiding guesswork.

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— Key conclusion from user testing

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06 REFLECTION

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Learnings

What I Learned

  1. Domain insight: Remote workers care about speed, clarity, and real‑time accuracy because these directly affect their productivity.

  2. Process insight: Running a focused 5‑day sprint forced disciplined decision‑making and showed how much progress is possible with a clear question and time‑boxed structure.

  3. Design insight: Work‑specific criteria and composite ratings (like Workability) are more useful than generic star ratings when choosing a place to work.

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​Next Steps

  1. Refine labels, filters, and trust signals based on testing to better match the language and priorities of remote workers.

  2. Explore ways to integrate more live data (e.g., crowd level, noise, Wi‑Fi reliability) to increase real‑time usefulness.

  3. Validate the concept with a broader range of remote workers and different city contexts to uncover additional needs and constraints.

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