App Redesign & Design System
I led a complete redesign of the Katalyst mobile app to unify its visual language with our hardware and marketing, streamline workout discovery, and establish a scalable design system. The result was a cohesive brand experience, faster workout selection, and a foundation for rapid, consistent feature development.
Problem & context
Katalyst’s EMS training app is the core touchpoint for delivering workouts, connecting to the EMS Suit hardware, and guiding users through sessions. Over time, the app’s visuals drifted from the company’s hardware and marketing aesthetic, creating a fragmented brand experience that weakened perceived value. Meanwhile, our 400+ workout library had outgrown navigation patterns built for a much smaller catalog, leaving users frustrated and delaying workout starts.
Analytics showed friction in navigation and workout discovery, so we combined surveys with usage data to map the pain points and rework the information architecture. On top of that, UI components lacked consistency, forcing engineers to rebuild patterns for each new feature. These usability and brand gaps posed risks to user retention and slowed our ability to ship new features like group training, commercial use cases, and subscription services.
The challenge
How might we create a cohesive, premium app experience that is visually aligned with Katalyst’s brand, easier to navigate, and scalable for the next generation of features?
My responsibilities
I led the end-to-end UX process, including:
Research & insights
I combined:
Key insights:
Strategy & prioritization
We prioritized three parallel workstreams:
Constraints:
Launched in under 4 months while balancing ongoing feature development, achieved entirely through front-end and design system updates without backend architecture changes.
Design solutions
1. Brand Alignment
2. Workout Catalog Navigation
3. Scalable Design System
Results & impact
Collaboration
Reflection
This redesign was more than a visual refresh, it was a strategic investment in Katalyst’s future. By aligning aesthetics, simplifying navigation, and building a scalable design system, we improved usability today while enabling rapid, consistent innovation tomorrow.
Aligning the app’s brand and usability with Katalyst’s premium EMS hardware repositioned the product from a workout utility to a cohesive lifestyle platform, a shift that deepened engagement and supported long-term subscription retention.
