Float, a privacy-driven browser
Float, a privacy-driven browser
Float is a next-generation, privacy-focused web browser built for users who value control, transparency, and freedom on the internet. Designed with a minimalist interface and zero-tracking core, Float strips away the clutter of modern web experiences to deliver clean, distraction-free browsing. Unlike traditional browsers, Float puts privacy first—no telemetry, no cookies, no fingerprinting. It blocks ads and trackers by default, shields your digital identity, and ensures that your data stays your own. Whether you’re researching, reading, or working, Float empowers you with a secure environment where you can browse freely, without being followed.
Client
PXL
DELIVERABLES
High Fidelity Prototype
Year
2023
Role
UX Researcher, Accessibility, UI Developer
Sanatnama
Industrial Vision
Invisible products. Fragmented connections.
Iran's industrial sector had a structural discovery problem. Manufacturers with quality products couldn't reach the right buyers. Procurement managers spent days manually verifying suppliers. Organizers had zero visibility into how value flowed across the ecosystem.
Physical exhibitions were expensive, time-bound, and geographically limited. What existed online was either outdated directories or generic B2B platforms with no industry context.
"Manufacturers with great products were invisible — buyers spent hours hunting suppliers, and organizers had no picture of who was connected to whom."
A sector failing to find itself
Manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors lacked a single trusted platform. Physical exhibitions were the primary touchpoint — costly, limited in reach, impossible to track. Procurement cycles dragged on for weeks due to unverified information and scattered communication.
Discover → Meet → Transact
Applying a hybrid Design Thinking and Service Design methodology, we built a desktop-first virtual exhibition that centralizes industrial profiles, enables 3D product stall exploration, and supports online purchasing — backed by real-time analytics.
Rather than a linear path, we moved fluidly between phases — testing assumptions, surfacing new constraints, refining solutions in tight iterative loops.
Empathize
Understanding the ecosystem before designing for itStarting with real people, not assumptions
All research was conducted in Persian with industrial professionals. Semi-structured interviews with 8 participants (ages 23–50), followed by an online survey reaching 35–40 additional respondents. Findings clustered using open affinity mapping in FigJam.
Four themes that anchored the design
Navigation Confusion
Users consistently felt lost. Menus were unlabeled, category structures opaque, and there was no clear mental model to anchor exploration.
Search & Filter Failure
Participants could rarely find specific suppliers. Filters were too generic — making procurement research a manual, time-consuming process.
Cluttered Interfaces
Existing platforms overwhelmed users with ads and competing hierarchies. Cognitive load during key tasks was far too high.
Checkout Complexity
Multi-step checkout flows with no progress indicators caused high abandonment. Users quit midway when unsure what came next.
One phrase came up again and again: users felt existing options required too much effort to find something that should be obvious. Discovery friction was the central, systemic problem — not any single feature.
Define
Crystallising who we're designing for — and why it matters to themThree archetypes. One ecosystem.
We identified three distinct user types representing the core of the Sanatnama value chain. Leila wants to be found. Omid wants to find quickly. Sarah wants to decide confidently.
Competitive Landscape
Four competitors mapped across strengths, weaknesses, unique features, user sentiment, and market share. No one combined immersive 3D with a smooth, role-aware UX flow — that was the gap.
Point of View
How Might We
- HMWMake it instant for buyers to find the right industrial supplier — without prior knowledge of the ecosystem?
- HMWGive manufacturers tools to build credibility digitally — the way a physical stall builds trust face-to-face?
- HMWLet organizers see, in real time, the economic connections and activity happening inside the exhibition?
- HMWDesign onboarding that works for both a 25-year-old startup founder and a 55-year-old factory owner?
Ideate
Generating and stress-testing directions before committingFrom questions to concepts
A cross-functional workshop with developers, product owner, and marketing. SCAMPER to reframe existing industrial exhibition formats. Crazy 8s for eight distinct interface sketches per person in eight minutes — speed forces instinct over polish.
Role-First UX
Platform detects the user's role and surfaces contextual CTAs and templates. Reduces cognitive load by narrowing choices at entry.
3D-First Experience
The exhibition floor as the primary navigation metaphor. Users walk the space, enter stalls, discover products spatially in Unity.
Search-First Experience
Optimised B2B search with advanced filters as the main entry point — built for procurement professionals who know exactly what they need.
Hybrid Dashboard
Card-grid combining a 3D hall preview, smart filters, and quick analytics. Fast discovery and immersive exploration — serving all three personas without forcing one mental model.
The hybrid direction satisfied both speed (find the right supplier in under 15 minutes) and engagement (explore products in context). Role-first entry plus a hybrid dashboard without adding onboarding friction.
Key design trade-offs
Full 3D navigation is immersive but increases onboarding complexity and performance cost — especially on older devices in the target market.
Interactive 3D thumbnails as lightweight previews. Full 3D is opt-in with contextual onboarding that explains the interface before the user enters it.
Rich stall templates help build trust but increase setup friction for a manufacturer's first stall.
Templated stalls with sensible defaults, bulk upload, and inline guidance. Launch in under 20 minutes, refine progressively.
Prototype
From rough sketches to a testable high-fidelity systemPaper first, pixels second
Every key flow was sketched on paper before Figma was opened — forcing clarity about what actually needed to be on each screen. Three core flows: discovery and search, stall setup wizard, and 3D onboarding for first-time visitors. Each walked through with the development team before wireframing began.
Design System
Built using Atomic Design before any hi-fi screens — ensuring consistency across a platform developed iteratively over multiple sprints.
Typography
IRANSans for Persian content, optimised for RTL readability. Clear hierarchy across 5 type scales with system fallbacks for Latin.
Colour
Deep navy primary (#141414 interface, #1B4FD8 action) with warm grey surface and soft blue accents — professional and modern, not playful.
Components
Stall cards, product tiles, search inputs, and verification badges componentised with variant states for rapid iteration during usability testing.
Layout
Adaptive grid for 1440px desktop primary (validated by research) with mobile-first responsive breakpoints for the app layer.
Final high-fidelity prototype
Sanatnama is a digital platform designed to connect industrial manufacturers with buyers, distributors, and procurement managers. The platform enables virtual 3D exhibition stalls, smart discovery, and online purchasing — backed by real-time analytics for organizers.
View Figma Prototype
Test
At scale — and with intentionUsability testing with 190 participants
Two modalities: moderated task-based sessions with 50 participants across flows, and unmoderated testing at scale through Maze with 140 additional participants. Tasks were structured around primary job-to-be-done scenarios — not feature exploration. Each round treated as a structured learning moment, not a validation exercise.
Key iterations
Unranked results, no contextual filtering. Average time-to-contact exceeded 25 minutes. Users browsed page after page without finding the right supplier.
Smart filters (industry, location, certification, size) with best-match ranking. Time-to-first-contact dropped below 12 minutes for the majority of sessions.
First-time users entered the 3D environment with no context. Most clicked randomly or exited immediately. Bounce exceeded 70%.
Contextual tooltip tour on first entry (once only). Explains navigation, hotspots, and stall interaction in 3 steps. 3D engagement increased 40%.
7-step checkout, no progress indicator. High abandonment mid-flow, particularly at the payment step.
Persistent progress bar, reduced to 4 steps, inline error recovery. Stall purchase completion improved 20% within the first month post-launch.
What this project taught me
This project sat at the intersection of service design, B2B product design, and emerging technology.
What I learned
Designing for a B2B ecosystem means designing multiple relationships simultaneously. Service blueprinting proved more useful than user flows alone.
What comes next
Expand the analytics dashboard — real-time connection mapping would significantly increase the platform's strategic value.
What I'd do differently
Run co-design sessions with manufacturing users earlier — particularly around stall setup, the source of most exhibitor drop-off.
Float, a privacy-driven browser
Float is a next-generation, privacy-focused web browser built for users who value control, transparency, and freedom on the internet. Designed with a minimalist interface and zero-tracking core, Float strips away the clutter of modern web experiences to deliver clean, distraction-free browsing. Unlike traditional browsers, Float puts privacy first—no telemetry, no cookies, no fingerprinting. It blocks ads and trackers by default, shields your digital identity, and ensures that your data stays your own. Whether you’re researching, reading, or working, Float empowers you with a secure environment where you can browse freely, without being followed.
Client
PXL
DELIVERABLES
High Fidelity Prototype
Year
2023
Role
UX Researcher, Accessibility, UI Developer
Sanatnama
Industrial Vision
Invisible products. Fragmented connections.
Iran's industrial sector had a structural discovery problem. Manufacturers with quality products couldn't reach the right buyers. Procurement managers spent days manually verifying suppliers. Organizers had zero visibility into how value flowed across the ecosystem.
Physical exhibitions were expensive, time-bound, and geographically limited. What existed online was either outdated directories or generic B2B platforms with no industry context.
"Manufacturers with great products were invisible — buyers spent hours hunting suppliers, and organizers had no picture of who was connected to whom."
A sector failing to find itself
Manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors lacked a single trusted platform. Physical exhibitions were the primary touchpoint — costly, limited in reach, impossible to track. Procurement cycles dragged on for weeks due to unverified information and scattered communication.
Discover → Meet → Transact
Applying a hybrid Design Thinking and Service Design methodology, we built a desktop-first virtual exhibition that centralizes industrial profiles, enables 3D product stall exploration, and supports online purchasing — backed by real-time analytics.
Rather than a linear path, we moved fluidly between phases — testing assumptions, surfacing new constraints, refining solutions in tight iterative loops.
Empathize
Understanding the ecosystem before designing for itStarting with real people, not assumptions
All research was conducted in Persian with industrial professionals. Semi-structured interviews with 8 participants (ages 23–50), followed by an online survey reaching 35–40 additional respondents. Findings clustered using open affinity mapping in FigJam.
Four themes that anchored the design
Navigation Confusion
Users consistently felt lost. Menus were unlabeled, category structures opaque, and there was no clear mental model to anchor exploration.
Search & Filter Failure
Participants could rarely find specific suppliers. Filters were too generic — making procurement research a manual, time-consuming process.
Cluttered Interfaces
Existing platforms overwhelmed users with ads and competing hierarchies. Cognitive load during key tasks was far too high.
Checkout Complexity
Multi-step checkout flows with no progress indicators caused high abandonment. Users quit midway when unsure what came next.
One phrase came up again and again: users felt existing options required too much effort to find something that should be obvious. Discovery friction was the central, systemic problem — not any single feature.
Define
Crystallising who we're designing for — and why it matters to themThree archetypes. One ecosystem.
We identified three distinct user types representing the core of the Sanatnama value chain. Leila wants to be found. Omid wants to find quickly. Sarah wants to decide confidently.
Competitive Landscape
Four competitors mapped across strengths, weaknesses, unique features, user sentiment, and market share. No one combined immersive 3D with a smooth, role-aware UX flow — that was the gap.
Point of View
How Might We
- HMWMake it instant for buyers to find the right industrial supplier — without prior knowledge of the ecosystem?
- HMWGive manufacturers tools to build credibility digitally — the way a physical stall builds trust face-to-face?
- HMWLet organizers see, in real time, the economic connections and activity happening inside the exhibition?
- HMWDesign onboarding that works for both a 25-year-old startup founder and a 55-year-old factory owner?
Ideate
Generating and stress-testing directions before committingFrom questions to concepts
A cross-functional workshop with developers, product owner, and marketing. SCAMPER to reframe existing industrial exhibition formats. Crazy 8s for eight distinct interface sketches per person in eight minutes — speed forces instinct over polish.
Role-First UX
Platform detects the user's role and surfaces contextual CTAs and templates. Reduces cognitive load by narrowing choices at entry.
3D-First Experience
The exhibition floor as the primary navigation metaphor. Users walk the space, enter stalls, discover products spatially in Unity.
Search-First Experience
Optimised B2B search with advanced filters as the main entry point — built for procurement professionals who know exactly what they need.
Hybrid Dashboard
Card-grid combining a 3D hall preview, smart filters, and quick analytics. Fast discovery and immersive exploration — serving all three personas without forcing one mental model.
The hybrid direction satisfied both speed (find the right supplier in under 15 minutes) and engagement (explore products in context). Role-first entry plus a hybrid dashboard without adding onboarding friction.
Key design trade-offs
Full 3D navigation is immersive but increases onboarding complexity and performance cost — especially on older devices in the target market.
Interactive 3D thumbnails as lightweight previews. Full 3D is opt-in with contextual onboarding that explains the interface before the user enters it.
Rich stall templates help build trust but increase setup friction for a manufacturer's first stall.
Templated stalls with sensible defaults, bulk upload, and inline guidance. Launch in under 20 minutes, refine progressively.
Prototype
From rough sketches to a testable high-fidelity systemPaper first, pixels second
Every key flow was sketched on paper before Figma was opened — forcing clarity about what actually needed to be on each screen. Three core flows: discovery and search, stall setup wizard, and 3D onboarding for first-time visitors. Each walked through with the development team before wireframing began.
Design System
Built using Atomic Design before any hi-fi screens — ensuring consistency across a platform developed iteratively over multiple sprints.
Typography
IRANSans for Persian content, optimised for RTL readability. Clear hierarchy across 5 type scales with system fallbacks for Latin.
Colour
Deep navy primary (#141414 interface, #1B4FD8 action) with warm grey surface and soft blue accents — professional and modern, not playful.
Components
Stall cards, product tiles, search inputs, and verification badges componentised with variant states for rapid iteration during usability testing.
Layout
Adaptive grid for 1440px desktop primary (validated by research) with mobile-first responsive breakpoints for the app layer.
Final high-fidelity prototype
Sanatnama is a digital platform designed to connect industrial manufacturers with buyers, distributors, and procurement managers. The platform enables virtual 3D exhibition stalls, smart discovery, and online purchasing — backed by real-time analytics for organizers.
View Figma PrototypeTest
At scale — and with intentionUsability testing with 190 participants
Two modalities: moderated task-based sessions with 50 participants across flows, and unmoderated testing at scale through Maze with 140 additional participants. Tasks were structured around primary job-to-be-done scenarios — not feature exploration. Each round treated as a structured learning moment, not a validation exercise.
Key iterations
Unranked results, no contextual filtering. Average time-to-contact exceeded 25 minutes. Users browsed page after page without finding the right supplier.
Smart filters (industry, location, certification, size) with best-match ranking. Time-to-first-contact dropped below 12 minutes for the majority of sessions.
First-time users entered the 3D environment with no context. Most clicked randomly or exited immediately. Bounce exceeded 70%.
Contextual tooltip tour on first entry (once only). Explains navigation, hotspots, and stall interaction in 3 steps. 3D engagement increased 40%.
7-step checkout, no progress indicator. High abandonment mid-flow, particularly at the payment step.
Persistent progress bar, reduced to 4 steps, inline error recovery. Stall purchase completion improved 20% within the first month post-launch.
What this project taught me
This project sat at the intersection of service design, B2B product design, and emerging technology.
What I learned
Designing for a B2B ecosystem means designing multiple relationships simultaneously. Service blueprinting proved more useful than user flows alone.
What comes next
Expand the analytics dashboard — real-time connection mapping would significantly increase the platform's strategic value.
What I'd do differently
Run co-design sessions with manufacturing users earlier — particularly around stall setup, the source of most exhibitor drop-off.