LIFT WORKSPACE
Clarifying memberships & boosting conversions
Simplifying how memberships, bookings, and amenities are explained so a small team spends less time clarifying and more people sign up with confidence.
PROBLEM
Visitors are confused about membership tiers and what is included, leading to drop-offs, repeated questions, and lost signups. Lift needs a clear, intuitive site that matches how people vet their coworking space and sign up.
OUTCOMES (IN PROGRESS)
New content structure clarifying key user flows.
Shifting team from reactive support to proactive design.
Building custom-coded blocks to overcome platform limits.
IMPACT (ANTICIPATED)
Increased clarity around memberships, reduced repeated pre-signup questions and post-sign up confusion.
Visitors can get their questions answered in one place, reducing back-and-forth between pages.
Improved scalability of site content and features through reusable, custom-coded components.
Stronger brand alignment and user trust from consistent voice, structure & UI.
MY ROLE
UX Designer
Content Strategist
TEAM
Me, Marketing, Stakeholders
TOOLS
Google Analytics (GA4)
Figma/FigJam
Survey Monkey
Usability Hub
Replit
Claude Sonnet 4
TIMELINE
04/2025- Present
I'm still in the design phase, come back soon to see where it lands.
Keep reading
BACKGROUND
Lift plays a meaningful role in the local community
Lift Workspace is the largest locally run coworking space in a rural, tourist-heavy region.
Their space serves ~250+ recurring members, and ~3,000+ visitors per year.
By providing a productive and collaborative environment, Lift brings together a unique mix of locals, nonprofits, remote workers, and visitors.
WHY REDESIGN?
Confusion and membership growth don't mix
User Problems
Membership tiers, amenities, and reservable spaces aren't intuitive, leaning to confusion about what's included and how to get started.
Business Problems
Lift needs to grow its membership base to meet strategic goals for upcoming improvements and expansion over the next two years.
As a small staff, a disproportionate amount of their time is dedicated to clarifying offerings.
DISCOVERY
Finding the friction
To understand where potential new members were getting lost, I compiled a sitemap, conducted a UX audit, and defined key user tasks.
Methods: Usability testing, benchmarking, UX audit, IA audit, competitive analysis
Step 1: Testing the target audience
Wanting to jump into the thick of it, I conducted four usability tests with target audience members to observe where the confusion was highest. Testing format: In-person, moderated; Testing devices: 2 desktop, 1 tablet, 1 mobile
Key user tasks were:
Free evaluation of the homepage, then defining what the business is and who they serve.
Evaluate the membership options and choose which one would be right for you.
Evaluate if you are able to sign up for a one-day pass and if so, sign up for it.
Evaluate what amenities Lift offers and who is able to use them.
What I learned
Step 2: Furthering my observations with data
The personal touch was great, but I wanted to see behavioral data captured on a greater scale.
I used the website's host platform and Google Analytics (GA4) to identify low-engagement areas, drop-off points, and trends.
What I learned
Site visitors spent more time exploring the homepage than any other page, and CTAs like "Explore Memberships" and "Book a Tour" had a decent click-through rate. The more interesting part is where visitors dropped off.
Step 3: Asking, are these kinds of websites always so confusing?
The short answer is frequently, but not always.
I analyzed 4 coworking websites to benchmark how others present memberships and amenities. While some offered strong UX and content structure, others revealed firsthand just how confusing and frustrating the experience can be.
What I learned
Uncovered constraints
Coworking websites like Lift’s aren’t true member portals. Users are redirected elsewhere to sign up or book, so it’s crucial to clearly explain that self-serve process and manage expectations.
STRATEGY
Guiding the next steps
Restructure content to align with interests
People are visiting a coworking website to evaluate whether it's the right fit. It's a death sentence to bury decision-making info. My fix:
Use the homepage as a broad, visual overview with clear entry points to more detailed pages.
Break up content into focused, concise pages and sections.
Apply progressive disclosure to guide exploration without overwhelm.
Reducing cognitive load, increasing curiosity
People don't want to decode a wall of text to decide what membership fits or which room has the amenities they need. My fix:
Use useful labels like "focus-work areas", icons and microcopy to explain usage and etiquette.
Show workspace images to create familiarity and support informed decision-making.
Create visual & structural consistency
A web experience that feels unpolish feels unprofessional, or worse, and hard to trust. My fix:
Build a design system to standardize layouts, buttons, and content
ITERATION
Strategy in action
Return to the foundation (sitemap)
After surfacing core issues, I went back to the sitemap as our foundation, and restructured it to align with real user goals based on the usability feedback, content strategy, and competitors.
This became a key moment to bring stakeholders into the process. I presented the revised structure and we made strategic decisions about content priorities and flow.
For example, we debated whether to keep all types of memberships & passes to one page, and decided to try making the content bite-sized.
Updated sitemap
Iterating on design solutions
I used low-fi wireframes to test structure and flow, and then mid-fi to make more important decisions like what content is prioritized, based on the initial rounds of usability testing.
By the second mid-fidelity pass, I introduced real images to visually orient users and to follow the core strategy of showing first and telling second.
Homepage low-fi
Mid-fi 1
Mid-fi 2
Prototyping & usability testing (again!)
Excited to know if my structural changes made things clearer, I conducted 3 initial usability tests. Participants were given the same core tasks to test how well the new IA, page hierarchy and visuals were holding up.
Design: Mobile-first prototype (Figma); Testing format: In-person, moderated; Testing device: Desktop
What I learned
In the second round of usability testing, behavior really started to diverge: some users freely explored, while others clicked fast to get things done. A few patterns emerged:
Structure alone couldn't create clarity
To reduce scroll and avoid content overload, I'd originally split details across multiple pages (Memberships vs Passes). With these results, it was a band-aid in the best case. I started playing around in Squarespace (Lift's host platform) to see how I could make the information succinct.
PIVOT
Limitations, frustrations, and a major pivot
At this point in the process, I became frustrated. I hit Squarespace's limitations almost immediately. I was felt completely bogged down with limited layout flexibility, practically non-existent custom interactions, and the creeping realization that I'd either have to compromise the design or switch platforms.
At the same time, Lift didn't want to use 3rd-party integrations to create custom widgets, so I felt like my hands were tied, condemned to create a mediocre user experience and UI.
Instead of sinking into it, I pitched creating custom solutions myself using AI-assisted coding tools like Replit and Claude.
Building with AI tools
After getting buy-in from stakeholders, I started building custom HTML, CSS and JS via Replit and Claude, and I started developing the front-end directly.
Methods: AI-assisted custom front-end development (HTML, CSS, JS) using Replit and Claude.
UP NEXT
Bringing designs to life, featuring a lot of debugging
With design decisions locked and stakeholder buy-in secured, I'm moving into implementation.
Building AI-assisted custom front-end code blocks (HTML, CSS, JS) using Replit and Claude
Refining content in real-time with stakeholders, & developing branding and voice with our brand identity lead
Another usability test for further refinement
Staged rollout and post-launch benchmarking
Methods: AI-assisted custom front-end development (HTML, CSS, JS), stakeholder working sessions, live content QA, brand alignment, usability testing, staged rollout planning, post-launch analytics review
This project is ongoing, please check back to see more details, synthesis of my findings and how this affects our design decisions!