The Challenge: Escaping the "No-Code" Trap: Método VDE was initially built on a third-party, no-code platform. This created significant business and product challenges:

• Financial Instability: We were subject to the provider's price volatility, impacting our operational costs.

• Brand Limitations: The platform imposed severe restrictions on visual customization, preventing us from building a strong, consistent brand identity.

• Frustrating User Experience: The platform was rigid. We were unable to implement new features, resulting in a "locked-in," inflexible, and frustrating experience for our students.

Goals & Objectives: To solve these problems, we established clear goals for building our own proprietary platform:

Business Objectives:

• Increase overall revenue and student acquisition.

• Significantly improve the student retention rate.

• Establish the platform as the leading OAB prep tool in Brazil.

  
  

Product & User Goals:

• Implement custom features to create a fluid, intuitive, and high-value user experience.

• Design a self-explanatory platform to reduce the burden on the customer support team.

• Integrate social features to build a community and increase student engagement.

• Fully express the unique Método VDE brand identity across the entire user journey.

My Role & Approach Under Constraints:

I joined as the sole Product Designer for this team. The project had a unique constraint: a previous designer's work had not met leadership's expectations, and the CTO and CEO had already defined a high-level product roadmap.

A long, traditional discovery phase was not an option.

To adapt, I implemented a hybrid Lean UX and Design Sprint process. My strategy was to tackle one complex feature per week, balancing the pre-set business requirements with rapid, data-informed design cycles.

My Process: Rapid Discovery (2 Weeks):

My initial two-week sprint focused on rapid onboarding and gathering actionable insights.

• Data-Driven Profiling: I partnered with our Data Analyst to analyze all available data, which allowed us to refine the existing user profile. This led to a key strategic decision to increase our focus on the Southeast region.

• Qualitative Research (Shadowing): I conducted ethnographic research by shadowing monitors, professors, and the CEO. A critical insight emerged: many new monitors were former students. This gave me direct access to recent, first-hand user frustrations and needs.

• Flow Analysis: I mapped the existing user flows and journeys to pinpoint the primary administrative and user-facing pain points.

My Process: Definition & Synthesis (1 Week):

In week three, I synthesized all the research to define the new product's foundation.

• Reducing Cognitive Load: I redesigned the primary user flow based on an analysis of task complexity and cognitive load. The new architecture provided a more logical and effortless path for the user.

• Heuristic & Ethnographic Analysis: I applied usability heuristics to the existing flow, confirming and prioritizing the friction points identified during shadowing.

• Collaborative Ideation: I led brainstorming sessions with the internal team (PM, Devs) and stakeholders (CEO, professors) to validate my findings and generate solutions for the most critical issues.

  
  

This rapid, data-backed definition phase gave us a clear and validated foundation. With these insights, we were able to move directly and confidently into wireframing and prototyping the new platform.