By Bigger Pockets
Bigger Pockets' app had fallen behind the web and most members never installed it. We redesigned it end to end on a new design system. One in three web-only members now uses the app, up from one in ten.
An older app behind the web experience: search that didn't find things, features missing, and no reason to open it instead of the browser.
A full redesign on one design system, search that finds deals and people, and gamified moments that give members a reason to come back.
The brief was a rewrite, but the real problem was habit. Members had years of muscle memory on the website and nothing in the app rewarded switching. So the redesign had two jobs: match the web on the things people did every day, and add things the web could not do.
I contributed from design and built the design system the app runs on: tokens, typography, components, so every screen came out of the same kit. That is what made the rewrite fast. Once the kit existed, screens were assembly, and the team could ship the whole app instead of a first half.
The gamified moments were the part people talk about. A wheel-of-fortune easter egg, unlocked by actions in the app and not on the web, turned into the most shared screen of the launch. It is a small thing, but it gave the app an identity of its own.
What I'd do differently: ship the design system tokens to the web team at the same time. The two products drifted for a quarter before we aligned them.
Exelobaiza | Design Engineer