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 first research to final pitch.

COHABIT LookBook cover: the wordmark above two phones showing the login screen and Habi crying over missed chores

COHABIT

Product design · 2026

A roommate mediation app that helps college students share a room without awkward confrontations.

Problem

60–70% of college students experience roommate conflict, and cleanliness is the leading cause. Our research pointed to missing systems rather than bad roommates: standards are never agreed up front, nobody keeps a record, and raising an issue feels riskier than living with it.

My role

I led the five-person team from zero to a tested prototype. I defined features and designed onboarding, the core chore flows, and the AI integration. In synthesis I wrote four of the team's five final insights, including that students won't go to their RA without evidence.

Solution

Three tabs (Chores, Inventory, and Group) and a five-step onboarding where roommates sign a shared agreement before move-in. Habi, an AI helper, sends reminders and handles the messages nobody wants to send.

Role
Product Design Manager
Team
UX Baddies, 5 designers
When
Spring 2026 · UXDG 101, Prof. Ha-Young Ra
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

Prove chores with photos

Survey respondents asked for a clear system (29.1%) and accountability features (28.6%). Each chore ends with a timed before-and-after photo, so the whole room can see the record and nobody can say "I thought you did it."

Decision 2

Let Habi and the RA do the hard part

Habi sends reminders, reassigns chores, and escalates in tiers, so nobody has to be the bad guy. If that isn't enough, a one-time code lets the RA see the full history without a recap, and access expires on its own.

Decision 3

Fix the system after testing

A heuristic evaluation with Prof. BC Hwang found ten issues, led by inconsistent visuals, no feedback after taking a photo, and no clear way to retake one. We rebuilt the design system and micro-interactions, and the app's rating rose from 4.4 to 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 test round, 84% of participants said they were likely to use the app frequently (up from 76%), and 87% said they'd recommend it (up from 82%). I was the only first-year UX student selected to submit the project to The Rookies.

Next steps

Testers asked for more gamification and a bigger role for Habi as the app's personality. Those are the two directions we'd take next.

SEEK

Startup sprint · 2026

A kiosk and Teams plugin that help office workers find, create, and join small events with coworkers.

Problem

One in five employees feels lonely at work every day. Companies spend heavily on social events, but invites get buried in email, people can't find the room, and mandatory gatherings push them away.

My role

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

Solution

An opt-in kiosk by the lifts and entrances that maps what's happening on each floor, plus a Teams and Outlook plugin where anyone can post or join an event.

Outcome

We went from research to MVP in one week and pitched at the SCAD StartUp Competition to a VC and designers from OpenAI, Meta, Adobe, and YouTube.

Role
Project Manager, UX Designer
Team
5 people, as TerraSync
When
Feb 2026 · SCAD StartUp Competition
Timeline
1 week, research to MVP
Methods
Agile sprints, market research, FITT model (frequency, intensity, time, type), rapid prototyping
Decision 1

A kiosk instead of an app

Asking employees to download an app would repeat the problem of forcing them to connect. A kiosk by the lifts and entrances is part of the space, and people can use it or walk past.

Decision 2

Live inside Teams and Outlook

New company software takes months to approve. A plugin works in tools people already use, and its bot can spot "I brought pizza" in a chat and offer to post it as an event.

Decision 3

Keep everything opt-in

Mandatory gatherings reduce psychological safety. SEEK shows people what's happening nearby and leaves the choice to join with them.

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

A conceptual MVP designed and prototyped in a two-day sprint.

Work

Research, strategy, and client work.

SCADpro × FINRA

Joined late and turned unclear requirements into UX work the team could use on a compressed timeline.

Industry sponsor project with a financial regulator

Espresso Hub

Designed a responsive site in Figma for a coffee business in Qatar and moved hosting to local servers.

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

Duolingo email strategy

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

Judged by unsubscribe, complaint, and conversion rates

Roboticscool

Made promotional materials and taught CAD, programming, and robot building to grades 4–6.

30% more event RSVPs and 10% higher attendance

Habit Craft

Turned user interviews into motivation and pain-point themes with the GRAMS framework.

Findings used in the founder's product decisions

Playground

Motion, 3D, and interface studies 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'm most useful where research turns into decisions about what to build.

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

I've led two five-person teams as product design manager and project manager, owning timelines, feature scope, and user research while designing the core flows myself. I use my motion minor to present those flows as short animations.

  • 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.

Email me or connect on LinkedIn.