1
Navigation is hindered by visual noise
UCHi.RU
How we renewed the platform identity, turning legacy into a system
In 2025, UCHi.RU rethought the experience for upper grades to move away from the visual legacy of elementary school.
- Role
- Product Designer
- Scope
- Users
- High School Students
- Platform
- Years
- 2025
Problem
Giving upper grades their own visual voice
The platform had grown into an ecosystem, but visually it still followed elementary-school logic.
We needed a scalable foundation for 5–11 that worked for both design and development.
Research
Inconsistency was both a brand problem and a workflow problem
We already knew a lot about high-school preferences and separately collected pain points from the design team.
2
Too childish a vibe, but they miss the mascot
3
Products look different from each other
4
No rules — no confidence in decisions
Direction
Tactile materiality instead of visual noise
I had already explored several approaches to a new visual language in individual products.
We needed to build a neutral base to control accents more precisely.
The direction with a flat base, volumetric buttons, and illustrations looked promising.
The solution was built on contrast between a flat neutral base and volumetric, tactile accent elements.
Validation
Stress-tested in a real product
The first product screens showed the direction works.
Solution
Turning visual into a system and shared rules
There was no point building a system from scratch — we needed targeted updates to the 1–4 system.
Once the system was ready, we immediately applied the new rules in Retcon and Payments.
Results
Results
The system united 9 designers and 5+ product teams.
Key Learnings