Sounding Board Leadership Development Platform

Sounding Board is a comprehensive, B2B leadership-development platform that combines high-touch coaching with data-driven insights to help organizations scale leadership skills at enterprise scale. Through personalized 1:1 coaching, group labs, and on-demand learning modules, it guides coachees from discovery and goal-setting through reflection, while empowering coaches with streamlined session tools. Administrators can spin up cohorts in minutes using an AI-powered Setup Assistant, and stakeholders access real-time dashboards that surface engagement metrics, capability growth, and ROI—ensuring every level of the organization has the clarity and control needed to drive measurable impact.

Role
Design Lead

Tools
Figma, Color Contrast Analyzer

Platform
The PAX App on Android and Web

Client
Sounding Board

Year
2023-2024

Team
1 Designers, 1 PM, 3 Engineers

Overview

Coachees were lost in a sea of coach profiles; coaches spent 15+ minutes per session just to schedule; admins wrestled with spreadsheets; L&D leaders lacked ROI visibility. Disparate manual processes led to single-digit booking rates and stalled adoption.

Through platform-wide design/ UX improvements and 0-1 feature launches, we enabled a 40% increase in monthly coaching bookings, creating a B2B platform adopted by 12+ enterprise clients—Zoom, Chime, Bill, Luma, Plaid, Credit Sesame, Code for America, Axis, Logixboard, Intervenn, Cohesity, and UserTesting. As Lead Product Designer (Q3–Q4 2023), I conceptualized and shipped the AI-Matching widget and the Cohort-Setup wizard, partnering with Data Science, Engineering, and L&D SMEs.

UX Craft in Detail

As Design Manager on Explore Pods, I developed the core design principles and visual identity framework that guided our team’s craft, consistency, and quality from kickoff through launch.

Versioning & Handoff

All tokens, motion specs, and component variants live in our shared Figma library (v1.0). We held weekly engineering syncs to ensure consistency and eliminate extraneous values in code.

Visual Identity

At this stage, as we sought to honor PAX’s hardware roots while tentatively expanding into software, we adopted a restrained visual identity—generous white space, strategic black anchors, and purposeful accent hues—to maintain a clean, premium, and intuitively navigable UI; later, we recognized the need for a more expressive style to fully support our digital evolution.

  • Build from White (“Purity”)
    Generous white space keeps focus on essentials—no unnecessary UI.

  • Black for Core Moments (“Premium”)
    Reserved for headers, primary CTAs, and anchor points to signal importance.

  • Color for Way-finding (“Emotion + Info”)

    Color use is restrained and intentional.

Design System Tokens

These tokens define our core brand blacks and whites, secondary greys, and accent indicators—ensuring every UI element uses color with clear purpose and consistency.

Accessibility Validation

  • Contrast Audits: axe-core and Color Contrast Analyzer confirm all color pairs pass WCAG AA.

  • ARIA Labels: e.g., <div aria-label="Effect: Relaxed, selected by 68% of users">.

Design Iterations

Strain Effects Iterations

Early prototypes used a single calm → energizing slider to represent each strain’s effects. Although the slider looked sleek, usability testing revealed it was confusing—participants weren’t sure what “calm” versus “energizing” measured and often skipped it altogether, undermining confidence in our data.

We replaced the slider with a discrete top-3 effects model: three clearly labeled chips (e.g. Relaxed, Creative, Focused) alongside lab-verified percentages (e.g. “62 % of users felt calm”).

By simplifying the visual language around effects and grounding each label in real user data, the interface became more honest, approachable, and genuinely useful—especially for newcomers exploring cannabis for the first time.

Coachee Discovery & Session Management

Persona: Carl (Coachee)
Functionality:

  • AI-Powered Coach Matching: Top-3 recommendations with “Why we chose them” insights

  • Booking & Calendaring: Inline availability picker, minimal form

  • Reflection & Notes: Post-session prompts and personal dashboard

Key Flow:

1. Discovery → 2. Smart-Match → 3. Booking → 4. Reflection

Strain Details Page Iterations

Version 1: Information feels dense at the top of the page. Visual hierarchy is flat between sections. Reviews should show # of reviewers. Effects slider is helpful but not very granular.

Version 2: Introduced an “Indica” badge, segmented ticks on the slider, icon-based effects row with specific effects, and moved descriptive text down—context improved but the page still felt cluttered.

Final: Complemented the slider with three clear effect chips + user-verified percentages. Well balanced visually. Information density is good (comprehensive but not overwhelming).

Results:

  • 30% faster page scanning

  • User feedback: Clean, honest, scannable.

Release and Outcomes

Release Phases:

  • Phase 1 (MVP): Ratings, reviews, strain pages, Certificates of Analysis.

  • Phase 2 (Full): Quiz flow, Pods home/search, Brand Partner data.

Measurable Results:

  • 42% adoption (4,200/10,000 MAUs) in initial six weeks

  • 4.2★ Play Store rating (↑0.3★)

  • 6 min avg. session duration

Legacy Platform & Visual Overhaul

When I joined, Sounding Board’s web app still looked like a utilitarian 2018-era admin panel—dense lists, minimal hierarchy, and low-contrast text that undermined user confidence.

I led a comprehensive visual redesign to match our emerging AI features and elevate trust:

  • Card-based layouts for clearer task & session grouping

  • Refined typography scale (24 px headlines → 14 px body) for better scanability

  • Elevated, WCAG AA-compliant palette aligned to brand blues & accent greens

  • Consistent iconography & 48 px grid spacing to give elements room to breathe

Goals

  1. Increase coaching bookings: Lift sessions per user by ≥25%

  2. Reduce admin setup time: Cut cohort creation from ~60 min to ≤45 min

  3. Boost adoption: Achieve ≥50% activation among invited coachees in first 30 days

  4. Surface ROI: Give stakeholders real-time visibility into investment returns

My Role & Scope

  • End-to-end ownership of UX/UI for five personas (Coachee, Coach, Admin, Manager, Stakeholder)

  • Ran 9 cross-functional design sprints with Data Science to define match-logic variables

  • Designed flows, wireframes, hi-fi mocks, prototypes, and handoff specs

  • Embedded analytics hooks in the UI in collaboration with the Analytics team

Design Strategy

  1. User-Centered Flows
    – Map end-to-end journeys for each persona to pinpoint key friction points
    – Prioritize high-impact “moments of truth” (coach discovery, cohort setup, ROI reporting)

  2. Data-Driven AI Integration
    – Define coach-matching algorithms and cohort-grouping logic with Data Science
    – Surface match rationale and group stats to build trust

  3. Visual System & UI Modernization
    – Build a scalable design language (spacing, type, color, icons) to modernize the interface
    – Frame new features within a cohesive, confidence-inspiring visual system

  4. Iterative Prototyping & Validation
    – Rapid wireframe → hi-fi → prototype cycles for guerrilla user tests
    – Embed analytics hooks to measure task success, time-on-task, and error rates

  5. Craft & Delight
    – Surface micro-interactions (e.g., 200 ms card flips, 100 ms drag-and-drop snaps) for polish
    – Ensure accessibility (≥44 px tap targets, WCAG AA contrast)

Key Components of the Platform

Coach Dashboard & Prep Toolkit

Persona: Coach
Functionality:

  • Active Client Roster: At-a-glance session list with status badges

  • Session Prep Panel: Quick access to client goals, past notes, resources

  • Post-Session Follow-Up: Reflection requests and feedback collection

Key Flow:

Dashboard → Session Prep → Delivery → Follow-Up

Admin Setup & Cohort Configuration

Persona: Corey (Admin)
Functionality:

  • Guided Setup Assistant: Step-by-step program creation wizard

  • AI-Suggested Grouping: Automatic cohort recommendations based on attributes

  • Scheduling & Notifications: Bulk session calendar and reminder automation

Key Flow:

Setup Assistant → Group Generation → Scheduling

Manager Oversight & Engagement Monitoring

Persona: Etta (Manager)
Functionality:

  • Team Roster & Surveys: Pending surveys and progress flags

  • Engagement Analytics: Adoption trends, high-potential highlights

  • Next Steps Recommendations: In-line CTAs for tailored development paths

Key Flow:

User Management → Program Monitoring → Alerts & Recommendations

Stakeholder Insights & ROI Reporting

Persona: Mia (Executive Sponsor)
Functionality:

  • Executive Dashboard: Overview of engagement, capability growth, and ROI

  • KPI Drill-Down: Interactive charts to explore program effectiveness

  • Report Export: One-click PDF/CSV downloads for stakeholder presentations

Key Flow:

Dashboard Overview → KPI Drill-Down → Export Reports