No handoff doc. No design system. No designer. I fixed all three.
Timeframe:
8 months
Tools:
Figma
Category:
Product Design - GenAi Networking
True 0→1
Joined when it was still mostly a vision. As the first designer on the team, I shaped the experience end-to-end and built a design system that could grow with it.
Overview
Linkberry is a GenAI-powered networking platform for live events, helping attendees find the right people, navigate what's happening, and actually make the most of the time they have.
Smarter Networking
GenAI-Powered Networking & Connections
Research
What I discovered
Talked to attendees, dug into the behavior, and kept hearing the same thing. Events are overwhelming. Too many people, too many sessions, and no clear way to figure out who to meet or where to focus.
%
Want help identifying the right people to meet at events.
%
Already use tools like LinkedIn or event pages to find people worth connecting with.
%
Say they struggle to turn event schedules into a clear plan for their day.
Problem
Events move fast. Between sessions, people, and back-to-back networking, attendees end up meeting whoever they bumped into, not who they came for.
Goal
Give attendees a smarter way to navigate events, matching them with the right people and helping them build a plan around the connections that actually matter.
Insight
At large events, the problem isn't a lack of opportunity. It's a lack of clarity. People need help knowing who to talk to and when.
Definition
Creating a plan
Before anything got designed, we needed to agree on what we were actually building. Research pointed clearly at the core problems, so we defined the feature set around those, not around what sounded cool.
So what are we really solving?
Attendees arrive at events with big ambitions, but often leave with just a high step count and a handful of forgettable connections.
Definition
Scalable foundation
With the core features defined, I built the design system in parallel, not after. Components, tokens, and patterns set up from the start so the product could scale without the design debt catching up to us.
Scope
Built a full component library in Figma, buttons, cards, inputs, navigation, all documented and ready to hand off without a conversation.
Design feature 1
Making the most of your time
When you sign up for an event, the calendar automatically populates every session, speaker, and breakout on the agenda. No manual entry. From there, a simple toggle switches between the full event agenda and your personal plan, so you can build your day around what matters without losing sight of what's happening.
What this solves.
Attendees stop trying to hold the whole event schedule in their head. The event lives in the calendar, your plan lives alongside it, and neither gets in the way of the other.
Design feature 2
Meet the right people, not just whoever's nearby
Using profile details and event context, Linkberry surfaces the people most worth meeting at each event, with a match score to show you why. When you find someone worth connecting with, you can see who else from your matches is attending the same event.
What this solves.
Removes the guesswork. Instead of scanning a room and hoping for the best, attendees show up with a shortlist of people who are actually relevant to them.
Design feature 3
Find events worth going to
Linkberry recommends events based on your profile, interests, and who else is attending, not just what's trending. Each event card shows how many of your matches are going, so you can decide if it's worth your time before you commit.
Scope
Discovery stops being a scroll through a generic list. Every recommendation is tied to relevance, the event, the people, and the reason it made sense for you.