I bridge research and execution - turning complex problems into interfaces that feel obvious. Background in gaming journalism, two years building a real EdTech product. Analytical thinking meets creative instinct.
VIK School App
Full redesign of an educational app for primary and middle school students. The platform delivers content on the UN 2030 Agenda, with partner projects supported by institutions such as the Comune di Roma, BPER Banca, and Universita La Sapienza. I rebuilt the entire experience - from onboarding to the XP/badge system - and designed an ecosystem connecting students, teachers, and schools into a single learning loop.
Research
AS-IS analysis, interviews with students and teachers, competitive benchmark. Key finding: gamification was present but not motivating - students disengaged after the first session.
Define
Two User Personas (Marco & Giulia) representing divergent mental models. Journey Maps revealed friction in onboarding and daily re-engagement.
Design
Card sorting → low-fi → hi-fi. Redesigned onboarding, XP/badge mechanics, seasonal missions, and the full VIK Ecosystem connecting app, ebook, and classroom.
Test & Ship
Usability testing with real students. Navigation streamlined, missions restructured for daily engagement. Shipped on both app stores.
VIK Teacher Dashboard
Teachers needed visibility on student progress without becoming power users. I designed a web dashboard with guided onboarding built for users with low digital literacy - monitor per-class activity, assign content, access ebook links in one click. The goal: total teacher autonomy, integrated into the broader ecosystem serving schools partnered with institutions like the Comune di Roma and BPER Banca.
Stakeholder Research
Interviews with teachers: confusion with existing tools, fear of mistakes, no time for learning curves. Core constraint: must work for a first-time user with no onboarding call.
Information Architecture
Sidebar by class, flat navigation, no nested menus. One primary action per screen to reduce decision load at every step.
Onboarding Design
Step-by-step guided setup: create class → add students → assign project. Built for users who may never contact support.
Hi-Fi Prototype
Full interactive Figma prototype, reviewed with the product team and tested with an early-adopter teacher cohort.
GamerKind
A matchmaking app for gamers filtered by title, platform, and a "Positivity Rank" peer-rating score that screens out toxic players. 9 out of 10 interviewees had experienced toxic behavior online. GamerKind makes finding the right people as simple as a swipe, while incentivizing good sportsmanship through XP and rank progression.
Research
10 structured interviews + 18-question survey to 30 gamers. Desk research on comparable tools. Clear signal: toxicity is universal, solutions are fragmented.
Positivity Rank Concept
Gamified reputation system - mutual ratings generate XP, XP advances rank (Silver → Gold → Platinum). Algorithm prioritizes high-rank matches.
Wireframe → Hi-Fi
User flows for matching, rating, and profile setup. Hi-fi prototype with dark gaming aesthetic and fully interactive matching flow.
Validation
Strong resonance with the concept. Main concern: rating reliability. Addressed with anti-manipulation mechanisms in v2 concept.
Fiscozen - Onboarding Redesign
Fiscozen challenged all Talent Garden UX cohorts to redesign their onboarding. Our team won. My core contribution: UX research and acting as lateral thinker - stepping back when everyone was stuck and proposing the reframe that became the winning direction.
Research & Brief
Analysed Fiscozen's existing onboarding, identified drop-off points, benchmarked competing fintech flows.
The Reframe
Team stalled on the core flow. I proposed treating onboarding as a "tax situation diagnosis" - a guided conversation, not a form. This became the winning direction.
Prototype
Conversational onboarding in Figma, reducing perceived complexity through progressive disclosure and a human tone of voice.
Result
Winning team selected by Fiscozen's product team. Praised for the human-centered reframe of a typically bureaucratic process.
Stay Serenis
Serenis challenged our team to design a mindfulness section for their mental health app - targeting young professionals aged 23–30. We ran a full double-diamond process: from understanding what "mindfulness" means for a busy professional, to a tested hi-fi prototype delivered to Serenis's product team.
Research
Interviews and desk research on mindfulness habits of young professionals. Key finding: they want micro-sessions between meetings, not 20-minute guided meditations.
IA & User Flows
Designed the information architecture integrating the new section without disrupting Serenis's existing therapy core flow.
Visual Prototype
Hi-fi in Figma consistent with Serenis's visual language - calm, minimal. Micro-session cards, breathing exercises, progress tracking.
User Testing
Moderated usability sessions. Key iterations: simplified session entry, clearer progress indicators, reduced onboarding friction.
NomadHub
A 72-hour sprint for Creative Harbour, a co-living brand. How do you build a community that sustains itself? Our answer: a circular ecosystem where users generate the content and experiences that attract new users, across online, offline, and hybrid touchpoints.
Brief & Research
72h constraint forced immediate focus. 4 research objectives: engagement, trust, value proposition, information-finding behaviour.
HMW Framework
"How might we create a circular model that feeds itself?" - the core design question shaping every touchpoint decision.
Solution Design
3 layers: Online (community + storytelling), Offline (events, co-living), Hybrid (Creative Hub spaces). Gamification and rewards incentivize contribution.
Delivery
Concept presented to Creative Harbour stakeholders within 72 hours. Circular model validated as a scalable community-growth engine.
I'm Lorenzo - a Product UX Designer based in Rome, currently shaping the experience at VIK School, an EdTech startup building civic and educational experiences for students and schools, in partnership with institutions like the Comune di Roma, BPER Banca, and Universita La Sapienza.
My background isn't linear, and that's the point. I started in gaming journalism - writing reviews, running editorial teams, making complex things compelling to read. That built an instinct for narrative and clarity that now defines how I approach every design problem.
I'm not the fastest visual designer in the room. But I'm probably the one who figures out why the design isn't working when everyone else is stuck - and the one who opens a new direction when the group hits a wall.
I believe great UX is invisible. If the user has to think about the interface, we've already failed.
"I start with the question no one's asking yet. My process is research-first, execution-oriented - I don't design in isolation. I stay close to developers, close to stakeholders, and as close as possible to real users. The best interface is the one that gets out of the way."
Product Designer
12/2025 → Present · RomeVIK School
Strategic definition of platform features - translating business objectives into scalable UX/UI solutions. The platform covers UN 2030 Agenda topics for primary and middle schools, and Civic Education, Financial Literacy, and Vaccination Awareness for high schools. Close collaboration with developers and institutional partners to align UX, technical feasibility, and product roadmap.
UX/UI Designer
12/2023 → 12/2025 · RomeVIK School
Designed the student app and teacher dashboard from zero. Figma prototypes, usability testing with real users, insight analysis. Built the complete VIK ecosystem - from low-fidelity wireframes to a live product with 7K+ registered users. Platform partners include the Comune di Roma, BPER Banca, and Universita La Sapienza.
Junior Project Manager
05/2021 → 05/2022 · RemoteArkadia Media Agency
Managed influencer marketing campaigns coordinating brands and content creators end-to-end. Supported clients in visibility strategy and sponsored content production. First sustained experience working across multiple stakeholders simultaneously.
Game Journalist
03/2019 → 06/2020Various gaming outlets
Reviews, editorial content, and industry reporting across multiple publications. Built the storytelling instincts, structured thinking, and user-centric communication that now define my design practice.
UX Design Master
Talent Garden
Intensive master in UX Design, UI Design, User Research, and Prototyping. Real-world client briefs with Serenis, Fiscozen, and Creative Harbour. Developed a full design thinking project for a gaming app (GamerKind).
BA in Digital Communication - Gaming
Vigamus Academy / Link Campus University
Three-year degree in digital communication with a focus on the video game industry. Marketing, editorial content, media production, and gaming industry dynamics.
Web Design & Webflow
UX/UI, responsive design, prototyping and modern site development with Webflow
Web Development
HTML, CSS, JavaScript - solid fundamentals for dynamic, responsive websites
Prompt Design
Generative AI, advanced prompt engineering, AI-assisted content and image generation
I work best at the intersection of research and craft - translating insight into interfaces that make sense to real people.
Lateral Thinking
When the team hits a wall, I step back and reframe from a completely different angle. Every group I've worked with has called this out - the thing that changed the direction when ideas stalled.
Cross-functional Collaboration
Two years alongside developers, stakeholders, and content teams - translating between technical constraints and design intentions without losing either side.
Visual Communication
A journalism background means I write design documentation people actually read - clear, narrative-driven, built for the person who wasn't in the room.
Adaptability
Researcher, designer, presenter - sometimes in the same week. I adapt fast to what the team needs most, comfortable with ambiguity and fast iteration.
I write about the intersection of game design and UX - because the best interactive experiences were built by game designers long before the term "user experience" existed.
Types of UI in Gaming: Diegetic, Non-Diegetic, Spatial and Meta
User InterfaceDead Space: The UI Art That Disappears in the Game World
User ExperienceFrom Metroidvania to UX: What We Can Learn from Game Design Classics
User ExperienceSuper Mario Bros. as a Masterclass in Teaching How to Play
Open to Product Designer, Product Manager, UX/UI Designer roles - and any conversation worth having.
lorenzoardeni98@gmail.com