Marketing tells people why a product matters. UX makes sure it does. I design with both in mind.
I didn’t take the traditional route into design. I started with , moved into , and became fascinated by how products were sold to me. That curiosity led me to at Drexel, where everything clicked: marketing and UX both start with understanding people.
Today, I bring storytelling, visual thinking, and that understanding into the products I design.
Big family, busy city, and a calling I found by building things.
I grew up in a busy city, in a big extended family. We traveled a lot, so I changed schools often and learned early how to walk into a new room and make friends.
Moving to Canada and getting into project-based work is where I found my calling: building things that make life easier for people.
A redesign of the return experience in a walking game, for players who had been away for a week or more.
Company
Talofa Games, a16z speedrun Cohort 001
Role
Product Designer intern. Research, re-entry concepts and concept testing.
Timeline
3 months, during closed beta
Stakeholders
Founder, coaches, power users, gaming advisor
The problem
Players who stopped for a week rarely came back.
Monster Walk turns real steps into character growth, quests and progression. Early engagement in the beta was strong, but players who lapsed for 7+ days weren't returning. The Welcome Back screen was the only way back in, and it wasn't designed for someone who felt guilty or worried their progress was gone.
No reminder of where they left off
Nothing addressed guilt or hesitation
Audit
How the app handled a returning player.
Players saw a daily task panel before any sign of their progress, then steps and stamina with no clear sense of what they turned into, then a reward in a separate overlay. By the time they reached the game world, the next action was unclear.
The original return sequence, four separate states before gameplay.The existing return flow, with friction points at each stage.
Research
Talking to lapsed players, the team and the competition.
Research included interviews with the founder, coaches and a gaming advisor, conversations with lapsed power users, a review of Duolingo, Pokémon GO and Habitica, and input from gaming psychology experts on re-engagement.
Finding 01
Every lapsed user worried their progress was gone. None of them had checked, and that worry was the main thing stopping them from returning.
Finding 02
Returning players needed to feel welcome before anything else. The competing apps all showed saved progress before new features.
Concepts
Three ways back in.
All three use elements already in the game. Each squad leader speaks in their own tone, Mystery Monster adds surprise, and streaks encourage coming back.
Daily StreakShows the player's streak history and celebrates milestones, without calling out the gap.
Squad Leader GreetingA personal message from a social accountability partner, so returning feels like rejoining a team.
Mystery MonsterTeases a new monster encounter, so curiosity pulls players back without guilt.
Silent clips from the concept prototypes.
The pivot
From A/B testing to concept testing.
The first round was an A/B test. It mostly showed drop-off rates, with little insight into why. Testing with non-gamers didn't work either: the game was hard to explain, and people dropped off in the first few screens. So testing shifted to concept sessions with power users, which showed what players liked and wanted, well beyond the welcome screen. The CEO valued the same insight.
BeforeA/B test: drop-off rates, little insight into why
→
AfterConcept sessions with power users: what they liked, and why
Testing
Mystery Monster reduced hesitation fastest in every session.
Moderated sessions with lapsed users included follow-up questions about their reactions. The testing was qualitative, so the concepts weren't scored. The patterns were consistent:
Concepts that acknowledged the absence without judgment worked every time. Ones that ignored it felt empty.
Every participant brought up saved progress without being asked.
Mystery Monster's pull came from the thrill of finding out who players might set free to join their squad, which helps them level up. It works with the game's own mechanics.
Final solution
The prototype follows a player coming back.
This is the interactive prototype. Tap through a player's return, from collecting stamina to the in-game map.
I mapped every screen a returning player saw, so I knew where the friction was before drawing any new concepts.
Decision 2: Switching to concept testing with power users
The A/B test only showed drop-off, and non-gamers struggled to understand the game. I moved to concept sessions with power users, which showed what players liked and why, well beyond the welcome screen.
Decision 3: Squad leaders who greet players in their own voice
I built the squad leader greeting concept from characters already in the game, so it felt native to the game. I gave each leader a distinct tone for welcoming players back, and built an inventory of welcome-back lines in each leader's tone for the welcome page. It was the concept I pushed for hardest, and it's live in the launched game.
What made it into the game
Squad leaders now greet players in their own voice.
Each leader has a distinct tone. It was the recommendation pushed for hardest, and it's live in the launched game.
Outcome
Four recommendations shipped in the launched game.
Monster Walk launched two months after the internship ended. These recommendations were in the live product:
Monster interaction moments
Encouraging return messaging
Daily quests
Daily rewards
There was no access after launch, so there are no live retention metrics to report.
