Hive
Strategic Design Audit: Enhancing UX and Brand Direction for a Leading Project Management Platform
Design Manager
Services
Product Design
Brand Design
Design Audit
The Client
Hive is a comprehensive project management platform designed specifically for hybrid work environments. Their robust suite of features includes project management, time tracking, team collaboration, messaging, note-taking, and analytics tools. As remote and hybrid work arrangements have become standard, Hive has emerged as a compelling alternative to competitors like ClickUp by focusing on features that support distributed teams.
The Challenge
Despite strong market positioning, Hive recognized opportunities to enhance their user experience and visual identity. They approached us seeking an objective assessment of their product design and brand presentation. As a product that prides itself on being collaborative and user-driven, Hive wanted to ensure their design reflected these values while meeting the evolving needs of their target audience.
The Solution
We conducted an intensive 4-hour design audit with Hive's key stakeholders, examining their product through multiple lenses: information architecture, interaction design, visual design, and brand consistency. This collaborative session yielded actionable insights that addressed both immediate improvements and long-term strategic recommendations. The Hive team actively participated throughout the process, engaging deeply with the findings and immediately recognizing valuable opportunities.
Elevating UX/UI for Enhanced Product Experience
Our audit identified several high-impact areas for UX/UI enhancement. We focused on streamlining complex workflows, improving information hierarchy, and creating more intuitive navigation patterns. Specific recommendations included refining dashboard organization to reduce cognitive load, standardizing interaction patterns across features, and enhancing feedback systems to confirm user actions.
We also addressed accessibility considerations, suggesting improvements to color contrast, text legibility, and interaction targets that would make the platform more inclusive. By mapping these recommendations to specific use cases, we helped Hive prioritize changes that would deliver the greatest user value with minimal implementation complexity.
Reflecting Modern Work Culture with a Brand Refresh
As hybrid work continues to evolve, we recommended strategic adjustments to Hive's visual identity that would better reflect contemporary work culture. Our brand recommendations included refinements to their typography system for improved readability across devices, a more cohesive color strategy that maintained brand recognition while supporting functionality, and visual element updates that conveyed efficiency without sacrificing warmth.
We presented these recommendations alongside examples of successful brand evolutions from other technology companies, providing Hive with a contextual framework for their own refresh. This approach helped them understand how subtle but strategic visual adjustments could strengthen their market position while maintaining the equity they had built with existing users.
Empowering Hive's Internal Team
Following the audit presentation, Hive made the decision to implement our recommendations using their internal resources. We structured our deliverables to support this approach, providing clear documentation and prioritized action items their team could readily incorporate into their development roadmap. This collaborative knowledge transfer allowed Hive to maintain momentum while leveraging their team's existing product knowledge.
Conclusion
Our comprehensive design audit provided Hive with a valuable external perspective that validated some of their existing concerns while uncovering new opportunities to enhance their product experience. By delivering practical, prioritized recommendations rather than abstract concepts, we equipped their team with a clear roadmap for evolution. This engagement demonstrates how focused design consultation can provide significant value even within a condensed timeframe, giving internal teams the insights and direction they need to make informed design decisions that will better serve their users in the evolving landscape of hybrid work.
