Product designer who leads teams from research to MVP.

Marie Françoise Cabibihan · UX Design, SCAD

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Case studies

Two team projects I led from discovery to delivery.

Case study 01 / 02

COHABIT

Product design · 2026

A roommate mediation app that gives college students a structured, low-friction way to share responsibilities and resolve conflict.

Problem

60–70% of college students experience roommate conflict, most often over cleanliness. Our research traced the cause to a lack of shared systems rather than bad intentions. Expectations are rarely set up front, accountability is informal, and students avoid raising issues for fear of damaging the relationship.

My role

As product design manager on a five-person team, I defined the feature set and designed onboarding, the core chore flows, and the AI integration. In research, I co-led the competitive analysis of Cozi, Flatastic, Nipto, and Flatify and 12 student interviews using the Mom Test and GRAMS, then led the pain point analysis that set our design direction.

Solution

COHABIT is organized around three tabs (Chores, Inventory, and Group) and a five-step onboarding in which roommates agree to a shared contract before move-in. Habi, an AI assistant, runs across the app to handle reminders, task reassignment, and escalation.

Role
Product Design Manager
Team
5 designers
Duration
10 weeks
Methods
2 surveys, 12 interviews, 3 observations, cultural probe, 5 whys, personas, heuristic evaluation, SUS and NPS testing
Tools
Figma, Figma Slides
805survey responses
12user interviews
82→87%likely to recommend
76→84%likely to use frequently
Decision 1

Make accountability visible

Survey respondents asked for a clear system (29.1%) and accountability features (28.6%). Each chore is completed with a timed before-and-after photo, creating a shared record that removes ambiguity about who did what.

Photo proof for every chore

Decision 2

Mediate conflict without confrontation

Habi sends reminders, reassigns tasks, and escalates in tiers, so no roommate has to confront another directly. When peer mediation isn't enough, a one-time code gives the RA time-limited access to the full history, with no recap required.

Time-limited RA access

Decision 3

Iterate on expert and user feedback

A heuristic evaluation with Prof. BC Hwang surfaced ten issues, led by visual inconsistency, missing feedback after photo capture, and unclear retake controls. We rebuilt the design system and micro-interactions, and the app's rating rose from 4.4 to 4.6.

Rating 4.4 → 4.6

How might we

…cultivate motivation and communication in an accessible way to encourage accountability and consistently prevent problems that occur in shared living spaces?

Chore accountability. Weekly chores, history, and reminders in one place.
Chore proof. A timed photo confirms the chore was done.
Room supplies. Snap a photo and Habi adds the items to a shared inventory.
Group and personal rules. Shared rules for the room, plus rules each roommate adds.
Habi. An AI helper for reminders, summaries, and chore swaps.
AI x UI. Fixed UI gives the AI context, so it hallucinates less.
AI use cases. Smart chore reshuffles, nudges, and photo extraction.
Character customization. Each roommate picks their own Habi.

Outcome

In the second round of usability testing, likelihood to use the app frequently rose from 76% to 84%, and likelihood to recommend rose from 82% to 87%. I was the only first-year UX student selected to submit the project to The Rookies.

Next steps

Testers pointed to two opportunities: deeper gamification and a stronger role for Habi as the product's emotional anchor.

Next case studySEEK

Case study 02 / 02

SEEK

Startup sprint · 2026

An opt-in kiosk and Microsoft Teams and Slack plugin that help employees discover, create, and join workplace events.

Problem

One in five employees feels lonely at work every day, and workplace loneliness costs companies $154 billion a year in lost productivity. Social events are the default fix, but invites get buried in email, employees struggle to find the room, and mandatory gatherings reduce psychological safety.

My role

As project manager, I set timelines and deliverables and coordinated the research, branding, marketing, and design workstreams. I also defined the UX strategy and led user research.

Solution

A kiosk placed by lifts and entrances maps what's happening on each floor, and a plugin for Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Outlook lets anyone create, find, and add events to their calendar.

Outcome

We took the concept from research to MVP in one week and pitched it at the SCAD StartUp Competition to a venture capitalist and designers from OpenAI, Meta, Adobe, and YouTube.

Role
Project Manager, UX Designer
Team
5 people
Duration
1 week
Methods
Agile sprints, market research, FITT model (frequency, intensity, time, type), rapid prototyping
Decision 1

Choose a kiosk over an app

Requiring a download would repeat the pressure employees already resist. A kiosk is part of the space, so people can engage while they wait or move between floors, or simply walk past.

No download required

Decision 2

Build into Microsoft Teams and Slack

New enterprise software can take months to approve, so a plugin for the tools employees already use lowers the barrier to adoption. Its bot can detect an event in a Teams message, such as "I brought pizza," and offer to post it.

Teams · Slack · Outlook

Decision 3

Keep participation opt-in

Mandatory gatherings reduce psychological safety. SEEK surfaces what's happening nearby and leaves the decision to join with the employee.

Always optional

Interactive prototype. Click through the SEEK kiosk. Open in Figma ↗

A conceptual MVP, prototyped in two days of a one-week sprint.

Work

Selected research, strategy, and client projects.

SCADpro × FINRA

Joined late in the project cycle, synthesized ambiguous requirements, and delivered UX work the team could build on within a compressed timeline.

Industry-sponsored project with a financial regulator

Espresso Hub

Designed a responsive website in Figma for a Qatar café, coordinated implementation with a developer, and migrated hosting to local servers.

76% lower annual website cost; a QAR 1,000 order in launch week

Duolingo email strategy

Segmented users by learning frequency and motivation, and designed an A/B test of email tone and frequency.

Success measured by unsubscribe, complaint, and conversion rates

Roboticscool

Created promotional materials and guided students in grades 4–6 through CAD, programming, and robot building.

30% increase in event RSVPs and 10% increase in attendance

Habit Craft

Synthesized user interviews into motivation and pain-point themes using the GRAMS framework, then partnered with the founder to translate them into product direction.

Findings informed the founder's product-direction decisions

Playground

Motion, 3D, and interface explorations from coursework and a 50-day UI challenge.

Claw machine. Blender, modeled and lit.
Collage of UI studies: dashboards, checkout flows, a recipe card, and an exhibition poster
UI studies. Web and app screens, Sept–Nov 2024.
Kinetic type. After Effects.
Board of responsive web design work
Web design. Responsive layouts.
Roboticscool. Promo animation.
Motion design 03. After Effects final.
Painted city scene
City study. Color in context.

I turn user research into clear product decisions.

Before SCAD, I studied interaction design at Harbour Space University, with coursework in consumer behavior, content strategy, email marketing, branding, 3D and motion design, and front-end development.

I've led two five-person teams as product design manager and project manager, owning timelines, scope, and research while designing core flows. My motion minor shapes how I present work, often as short animated walkthroughs.

  • 2025 – 2029SCAD · BFA User Experience Design, Minor in Motion Graphics
  • 2024 – 2025Harbour Space University · Interaction Design
  • 2025Espresso Hub · Contract Designer
  • 2023 – 2024Roboticscool · Design & Robotics Support

Research

User interviews, surveys, segmentation, GRAMS framework, usability testing, heuristic evaluation

Product

Feature scoping, Agile sprints, team leadership, A/B test design, AI-enabled product concepts

Design

Figma, prototyping, responsive design, design systems

Motion & 3D

After Effects, Blender, DaVinci Resolve

Technical

HTML, CSS, JavaScript, SwiftUI

Contact

Let's work together.

Reach me by email or on LinkedIn.