Upfolio – Streamlining Case Study Creation
Designed a Figma plugin to assist designers in capturing and organizing project assets in real-time, reducing cognitive load and enhancing narrative clarity. Upfolio enables designers to build case studies 40% faster, with 75% expressing intent for monthly use.
Apr - May 2025
Design lead
Visual designer
UX design
End-to-end designer
Challenge
60% of designers postpone portfolio updates not due to procrastination, but because the process is cognitively taxing, emotionally fragmented, and creatively draining. The challenge was to simplify this process, making it more intuitive and less burdensome.
Impact
75% would use Upfolio monthly
85% said it could cut case study time by 40%
30% said they'd share their work more regularly
82% completed core tasks unaided during testing
55%
update their portfolios only when job hunting
60%
struggle to find the right project assets to include
72%
have portfolios tailored to different job roles
Process
Pain points
Limiting the feature to Behance accounts excluded many designers. Users without a Behance profile couldn’t continue, making the solution feel exclusive and not suited for a diverse design audience.
The prototype introduced unexpected steps and platform shifts. Users hoped for a seamless update process but felt disrupted and confused by redirects and unclear flows.
The purpose of the feature wasn’t clear to most testers. It was unclear whether the tool aimed to transfer data, update work, or create case studies-causing hesitation and doubt.
Solution: Developed Upfolio, a Figma plugin that functions as a silent creative assistant. It allows designers to tag and collect assets in real-time, reducing cognitive load and preserving the narrative intent. The plugin's guided structure aids in documenting the design process, making case study creation more efficient and authentic.
UI Design & Visual guidelines
Overview: I surveyed 61 designers and conducted 10 interviews to uncover the pain points behind portfolio delays. The main blockers were time pressure, asset loss, memory gaps, and content tailoring.
“Writing case studies from scratch takes forever, and half the time I don’t even remember the full process. It just feels like time I could be spending on actual design work.”
Valentina
Visual Designer
Main Plugin Features
Tag-as-you-go collection to reduce anxiety at the start. By simply tagging assets on their canvas, everything they need appears automatically in the plugin organized and ready to go. It’s like having a silent assistant handling the busywork.
“The reason for not updating the portfolio often is lack of time in general, the priorities are usually get the real work done.”
Mark
Digital Designer
Step-by-step journaling. When it came time to write a case study, a designer realized they barely remembered the early steps of their project. With the plugin’s guided structure, they now document as they go. Instead of starting from scratch, they simply follow the prompts, saving hours and capturing a more authentic creative journey. Guide memory & narrative clarity.
“Writing case studies from scratch takes forever, and half the time I don’t even remember the full process. It just feels like time I could be spending on actual design work.”
Jessica
UX/UI Designer
Feel confident, not overwhelmed. Reworking their case study to match the job’s focus felt like starting from scratch. With Upfolio’s tailored templates, they could easily adapt their case study for the position-saving time and presenting their work in the most relevant way. Smart templates for customization.
“Anything that makes this more time-efficient is a win. Reformatting takes so long, I’d rather spend that time designing.”
Silvia
UI Designer
Impact
User testing revealed that 75% of designers would use Upfolio monthly, with 85% indicating it could reduce case study creation time by 40%. Additionally, 30% expressed a willingness to share their work more regularly, and 82% were able to complete core tasks without assistance, highlighting the plugin's usability and effectiveness.
UI Strategic Design Emotional Framework
OverviewBeyond solving task efficiency, Upfolio was designed to reduce emotional resistance. Julieta 2.0 reframed the user problem as one of creative overwhelm, loss of narrative control, and fear of being misrepresented. Folio, support like a creative buddy the designer during the process. A calm, supportive UI built around the idea of a friendly creative partner, not just a tool.
Conclusion
Procrastination is often a systemic design failure. What looked like procrastination was really a symptom of broken systems - asset sprawl, memory gaps, and context switching. This project reminded me that emotional resistance often points to invisible friction in workflows. Solving it starts with empathy, not efficiency.
Tools that respect narrative flow reduce cognitive load. I saw firsthand how much cognitive effort it takes to reconstruct a case study from memory. By embedding documentation into the creative process, I was able to reduce the need for recall and increase narrative continuity, transforming scattered tasks into storytelling momentum.