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.
DESCRIPTION
A coworking site redesign that simplifies memberships, booking, and amenities in order to increase conversions and onboarding efficiency.
CONTEXT
Lift is a small, locally run coworking space where the team spends too much time fielding questions the website should answer.
PROCESS
I started by auditing analytics, mapping key flows, and running usability tests across devices to pinpoint where users were getting stuck. I'm currently moving into early design exploration and will start validating each step through iterative testing, feedback and stakeholder buy in before handing it off to our UI designer and dev.
MY ROLE
UX Designer
TEAM
Me, UI Designer, Stakeholders
TOOLS
Google Analytics (GA4)
Microsoft Clarity
Figma
Survey Monkey
Usability Hub
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.
The homepage should be a broad, illustrative overview with clear entry points into more detailed pages, using progressive disclosure to invite exploration. This means breaking content into focused, concise pages and sections to reduce overwhelm and guide action.
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.
Labels and contextual cues, like "focus-work desks" or "meeting & collab spaces" already clues members into how these spaces are best used and icons can add context about etiquette.
Showcasing images of the different workspaces would not only provided a sense of familiarity, but also facilitate informed decision-making.
Create visual & structural consistency
Inconsistent visuals (and even inconsistent capitalizations) make a web experience feel unpolished, unprofessional, or worse, and hard to trust.
Lift needs a flexible design system to bring order by standardizing layouts, buttons, and contexts across the board.
ITERATION
Strategy in action
Iterating with purpose
Each round of feedback drove refinements — adjusting CTA placements, clarifying room labels, or tightening copy. The process was lean but intentional, with every design choice tied back to how real people explore, decide, and use the space.
Aligning with stakeholders 2
Went over UI/visual direction they want, talked about constraints with the website host platform (Squarespace)
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.
Original sitemap
Updated sitemap
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
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
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.
UP NEXT
Insights, synthesis and action
With design decisions in place, I'm shifting into implementation. Next steps include:
Implementation of designs in staging area
Integration of real content and preparation for staged rollout
Post-launch iteration and refinement
Methods: Implementation planning, stakeholder working sessions, content onboarding and QA, post-launch iteration and refinement
This project is ongoing, please check back to see more details, synthesis of my findings and how this affects our design decisions!