Christian Bolorinos

WSA is a UN-backed organization that gives awards to projects supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Several times a year, they host regional and global events to celebrate award winners and provide valuable networking opportunities for attendees. I was in charge of the WSA website (there is another case study about that). To make the website more helpful, I often followed up with 5–10 people I had met at each event. I asked them what they were hoping to get out of the event and what could be improved.

In these interviews several recurring themes came up over and over again. One was that the calendar (a PDF sent through a WhatsApp group) was hard to navigate. Another was the inefficiency of the networking. A person working in agritech in Japan had very little to say to someone working in fintech in Chile. Also, the jumble of emails and LinkedIn connections attendees ended up with was often difficult to sort through and follow up on. The WSA community would come together for these events, but would mostly fragment again immediately afterwards.

My first impulse was to address these issues through the website. I built several MVPs, including an AI agent that had access to attendee and project data and suggested connections aligned with each user’s goals. These solutions received mostly positive feedback but were clunky and often drowned out by other communication channels. I also evaluated several SaaS solutions. While many solved the calendar problem, none effectively improved networking or helped maintain community engagement after the event. I considered building a custom app, but WSA did not have an in-house mobile developer or the budget to hire one.

It was around this time that I met Emeka through the WSA community. He had identified a similar need to keep the community connected between events and was willing to work for equity. After discussions with key stakeholders, Emeka and I began developing a solution together.

The first iteration of the app focused solely on calendar functionality. It provided a clear schedule of all sessions, allowed users to sync events with their personal calendars (iCal, Outlook, or Google), view session locations via Google Maps or Apple Maps, and access speaker profiles and LinkedIn pages. The app was embedded within the website so that users who preferred not to download an app could still access the schedule. This successfully solved the calendar problem but did not yet address networking. However, it helped onboard users, which made later iterations easier to roll out.

The second iteration retained the calendar and introduced two new sections: Projects and Community Feed. The Projects section displayed profiles of all winning teams, their objectives, and their social links, allowing attendees to follow up after the event. The Community Feed functioned as a forum where participants could post what they were looking for (investors, employees, or partnerships) and discover others with similar goals. The app also allowed users to browse attendee profiles and identify who might be most relevant to connect with.

The app also featured an AI agent in the bottom right corner that could provide information about winners, the agenda, and attendees. This agent supported networking during the event by suggesting people to connect with based on each user’s expertise and objectives. It also helped attendees use their time more efficiently by recommending the most relevant sessions.

The data after two events was clear, over 60% of people who attended the event engaged with the app, and about 15% of those used the app at some point after the event, implying follow-ups.

WSA is a global initiative supporting digital projects aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Because any UN member state can participate, the organization operates through a distributed network of local coordinators who manage country-specific application processes and community engagement.

On the previous website, this created significant friction for applicants. Users had to manually find their country’s local expert and contact them to understand the application process, which varied widely between regions. As a result, potential applicants often struggled to understand how to participate or how to engage with their local WSA community.

To address this, I designed and developed a system of dynamic country pages that centralized all local information in one place. Each page displayed the country-specific application process, linked directly to the correct submission database, and showcased local winners, youth ambassadors, national experts, and upcoming events. This allowed users to quickly understand how to apply and provided clear entry points into their local WSA network.

Within 3 months of development, 19% of users were visiting these pages. These pages also significantly increased application volume and strengthened WSA’s local presence by making regional communities more visible and accessible. Instead of navigating a fragmented process, users could now move from discovery to application in a single flow.

In addition to the country pages, I worked on improving regional engagement through WSA’s newsletter. Using location data available in Brevo, I segmented WSA’s 20,000-contact mailing list into five geographic regions. This allowed us to promote local events and highlight regionally relevant success stories, which led to improved engagement and higher open rates in subsequent campaigns.

My role in these initiatives covered both design and development. I collaborated closely with WSA’s community manager to understand the operational differences between countries and ensure that the system accurately reflected local processes while remaining maintainable at a global scale.

I also produced an explainer video for WSA, creating motion graphics that helped communicate the organization’s mission and participation model more clearly to new audiences.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Ria was forced to rapidly transition from a predominantly brick-and-mortar operation to a digital-first experience. The urgency of the situation required prioritizing speed and reliability over polish, while still maintaining user trust in a highly sensitive financial context.

To see the full app you can download it on Android or iOS. My role focused on overseeing the customer-facing interface of the mobile app as it was being prepared for launch across multiple markets, including the US, Canada, the UK, Spain, and Australia. Rather than starting from idealized user journeys, we worked under severe time constraints and evolving requirements, making continuous trade-offs between scope, usability, and delivery timelines.

Product decisions were informed by weekly feedback loops with the customer support team. This allowed us to quickly identify friction points, assess their impact, and prioritize which issues to address in subsequent releases.

The app was ultimately well received given the circumstances, serving as a critical continuity channel for Ria’s customers during lockdowns. The experience reinforced my approach to product decision-making under uncertainty: prioritizing clarity, minimizing risk, and using operational feedback as a strategic input when traditional research methods are unavailable.

As 5Mins scaled from fewer than 500 to over 10,000 monthly users, repeat usage plateaued after onboarding. I was responsible for redesigning the engagement layer of the product, focusing on social interaction and gamification to encourage sustained learning behavior. My work increased 7-day retention by 18% and improved repeat usage across the platform.

Social Home Experience

When I joined, the home page primarily surfaced algorithmically recommended content based on users’ skill sets. While this worked at smaller scale, it offered little visibility into team activity or shared learning.

I redesigned the home experience to introduce a social feed inspired by familiar interaction patterns from TikTok and Instagram. The goal was to leverage interfaces users already understood, reducing the learning curve and allowing them to seamlessly browse, share, and discover learning content in a way that felt natural.

This included introducing a Share feature that allowed users to distribute videos within or outside the app, as well as a social feed that surfaced content suggested by coworkers, trending within teams, or assigned by managers. The decision to prioritize social features was also informed by broader platform history. As described by Tim Wu in his analysis of early internet platforms, services like AOL gained dominance not through content, but by embedding social interaction directly into the user experience. Applying this principle to 5Mins, we focused on making learning activity visible and shareable within teams, rather than treating it as an isolated task.

Gamification system

The platform initially included basic streaks and daily goals, which proved insufficient for long-term motivation. I designed a structured learning path supported by badges and certificates, drawing inspiration from Duolingo’s progression and reward systems.

Users unlocked badges by earning skill points through watching relevant videos. After unlocking three badges, they became eligible to earn certificates. Upon completing the required lessons, users were prompted to take an assessment. An AI agent powered by ChatGPT analyzed their recent lessons and generated quiz questions. Users scoring above 80% received a shareable certificate, providing both short-term and long-term incentives for engagement.

At SwissBorg, I led initiatives to optimize the marketing website, improve app downloads, and validate new product offerings through UX research and experimentation.

The website’s main goal was to drive app downloads. I designed and executed conversion optimization initiatives. One of these was running continuous A/B tests, and prioritizing high-performing components. One clear example was the QR code on the home screen: originally visible only on hover, displaying it by default almost doubled app downloads.

In addition to the website, I ran experiments via social campaigns to identify high-converting services. These experiments informed prioritization of offerings and contributed to a 25% reduction in social media marketing costs for the same results. It also showed us which services needed to be featured more prominently on the website.

I also optimized the premium upsell experience on the website. Using interactive yield comparison graphs, we highlighted subscription plan differences and token-based rewards (CHSB) while maintaining clarity for users of varying expertise. Hotjar data helped identify which interactive components drove conversions, and an accordion pattern allowed users to access complex information without cluttering the main experience.

Alongside these core responsibilities, I contributed to early-stage experimental projects exploring tokenization, community-driven products, and emerging digital asset models. My work included product discovery, UX research, prototyping, and rapid iteration, helping guide strategic decisions with limited data and high uncertainty.

This project focused on redesigning the website for Barclay Damon, an international law firm with 9 offices, 65 practice areas, and hundreds of attorneys. The core challenge was not visual refresh, but scale: creating a system that could accommodate a large, complex organization without fragmenting the brand or overwhelming users.

Early in the process, I explored multiple strategic directions for how the firm could present itself digitally. One concept emphasized Barclay Damon’s Renewable Energy practice, while another used a more abstract, flexible visual system capable of representing a wide range of legal domains. These explorations were used to align internal stakeholders around what the website needed to do for the business, not just how it should look.

The final direction prioritized adaptability and longevity over expressiveness. The website was designed as a modular system, allowing hundreds of pages to be created, maintained, and evolved without design conflicts. Motion and visual differentiation were used selectively to avoid compromising clarity or performance.

While my role included hands-on design, the strategic value of the project lay in translating organizational complexity into a coherent digital structure — one that balanced marketing needs, editorial autonomy, and long-term maintainability within a custom CMS environment. This website was made almost 10 years ago, and it is still live, and still doesn't look dated so I would consider it a success, and one of my favorite examples of my early work!

Ria was the first time I was exposed to design that was entirely independent of Marketing. The purpose of my department was to change public perception of the brand, particularly among prospective talent and potential partners.
One of the ways in which we did this was by reframing Ria. Ria is generally associated with low end neighborhoods around Europe and the US, but our videos told a story about how it was a driving force in the redistribution of wealth from wealthy countries to poor ones. We also told the story about how it was a lifeline for entire communities.

Another of the ways in which me and my team did this was by making educational content. These animated videos informed people of difficult to grasp concepts in finance and economics. They were put on Ria's Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube platforms. The videos were meticulously targetted, using keywords that were frequently googled and infrequently referenced. We covered not only FinTech topics such as Blockchain, Mobile Banking and EFT's; but also remittance related topics such as Microfinance and Romance Scams.
The videos were enormously successful. Our Instagram following increased by over 200% and our LinkedIn by 70% (making us the most followed account on LinkedIn among all our competitors). My role was mostly in animating, but also researching and in some cases writing the content.

Steven the Lettuce is a start-up I co-founded with 2 business partners. It is an app that gamifies sustainability by offering users rewards for logging sustainable behaviors, and provides them with sustainable alternatives to any brand/business/service they look up. I was responsible for branding the company and designing the interface.

I created the explainer video, maintained the website and helped pitch the project in Venture Lab and South Summit. The image above is a screenshot from the Explainer Video which features several animations of Steven.

For market research on what was effective at getting users engaged, as well as to give investors a basic idea about how the product worked, I also developed a functional prototype. The prototype featured 5 different services: a social feed, a browser add-on, a petition search engine, a company search engine and a section for logging behavior. The prototype was made on Adobe XD, and has been tested on over 700 different users. Using Google Forms and the commenting function on XD, we were able to get user feedback, and iterate based on our results. The prototype went through four iterations. The final iteration can be accessed through this link.
Other research conducted for Steven included several online surveys and a simplified Carbon Footprint Calculator.

I was hired for only a 6 month contract at Servie Club Delivery, and while my formal role was as Sr Marketing Director, my informal roles included Web Developer, UX/UI Designer, Social Media Manager, UX Researcher and Motion Graphics Designer.

The company was formed to connect couriers to courier companies (Uber Eats, Glovo, Deliveroo, etc), and to reduce their churn rate (which is one of the biggest pain points for these companies). Our services included a job board and an academy where couriers could upskill and earn certificates (think LinkedIn for couriers).

When I joined SCD I also signed up to be a courier for Deliveroo to better understand the ecosystem, riding around Madrid delivering food for about 3 hours a week. I also interviewed countless couriers, both in person and online through surveys, interviews and data analysis. I soon found the massive pain point that they had, and a way we could fix it.
The hardest part about working for the delivery apps was the infernal pile of indecipherable documents that one had to complete to be able to register as a freelancer. This was made significantly worse by the fact that most couriers are either students or migrants.

The first step we made was to add a course in the academy on getting and maintaining a Spanish work visa, as well as several others helping people understand what work opportunities were and weren’t available to them. Users had to create a profile on our system to access these courses, which were marketed extensively on online communities that were popular with students and recent migrants. Additionally, we partnered with a company that registered people as freelancers for a small monthly fee (around 12 euros if I remember correctly). This meant that through our interface we were able to offer people a way to fill out this immensely complicated paperwork without lifting a finger.
The result was a massive increase in the couriers in our system. It rose from 2,000 to 14,000 in the six months I worked there. Our social media channels were similarly affected (+400% and +75% on Instagram and LinkedIn respectively). These rapidly inflating metrics also got us important contracts with 4 different major companies (Glovo, Uber Eats, Stuart and Getir).

Nomads Relocation is a small business I set up in Madrid with a friend. Over 2024 and 2025 we noticed that there were an increased number of Digital Nomads entering Spain, and that it was exceedingly difficult for them to apply for the visa, file their taxes correctly and find housing. Nomads Relocation aims to make this process smoother. Our customers provide us with the neccesary documentation, and process it all for them for a small fee.

The process is heavily automated, mostly using n8n. Gravity Forms sorts potential customers into the appropriate categories, and once they pay the fee an automated email asks for the neccesary paperwork, which is then sent to the partners who process them. Additionally, the sales funnel is automated as well, me and my business partner both get alerts whenever someone mentions moving to Spain on a handful of subreddits and Facebook Groups. An AI decides if their case is relevant, and drafts a response, which we then post in the Reddit/Facebook comments (this last step has to be done manually, as Reddit and Facebook both heavily penalize automated behavior).

There is also an AI agent on the website which helps people find out if they're eligible for the Digital Nomad Visa or not. If they are, the AI agent emails us their information, and tells the user that they will be hearing from us shortly.

During my Master’s in Customer Experience & Innovation at IE, I was part of a small team commissioned by Hilti to investigate the drivers behind a high churn rate among lower-income customers. The problem was framed not as a usability issue, but as a mismatch between Hilti’s value proposition and the financial realities of this segment.

We began with large-scale qualitative research, analyzing over 4,000 customer emails to identify recurring themes. From this dataset, approximately 200 customers completed structured questionnaires, and around 20 participated in in-depth interviews. This allowed us to move from anecdotal feedback to validated behavioral patterns.
Our research revealed that churn was not primarily driven by dissatisfaction with product quality, but by poor understanding of long-term cost structures. Many customers were making purchasing decisions without a clear picture of when renting versus buying made financial sense, leading to regret and disengagement.
Based on these insights, we mapped the customer ecosystem and end-to-end journey for this segment, identifying key decision points where Hilti could intervene earlier. Rather than proposing major changes to the product line, we recommended targeted adjustments to how value was communicated.

Our final proposal combined strategic insights with a concrete intervention: a value calculator designed to help customers compare rental and purchase scenarios based on their actual usage patterns. The goal was not conversion, but education — reducing churn by enabling more informed decisions upfront.

Several years after working at Service Club, they approached me because their social media campaigns had gotten way too "stock-photoey".
The CEO reached out to me because she had always appreciated the eccentric, human touch that I had added to the brand. I was happy to help out - partly because I always enjoyed the autonomy I had when working for Service Club, and also because I had been looking for an excuse to do a campaign with AI generated video.

The objective was simply to get people to sign up to be couriers on their system. My solution was to grab the users attention to get them to stop scrolling, and then to offer them a job. I made some reels, some stories and some posts. One of the best performing ones was this one - a surfer who was carrying a few parcels. The visual was strange enough to catch people's attention, and after just a few seconds they were prompted to sign up with Service Club. The reel got more than 12,000 views (it was boosted, though I don't know how much money they put on it), and a 2.5% click through rate (they usually averaged less than 1%). I suspect this surfer courier's success was due to his extrordinarily good looks!
The campaign featured a variety of outrageous AI generated scenarios that made couriers look like the coolest people in the world. They included spider man, superman, surfers, snowboarders, Santa Clause, the Grinch and a few others. There were also some regional campaigns made for when Service Club needed more people in their system for a specific location. The reel below is one that I made for when they were seeking couriers in London.

The campaign was successful but Service Club didn't have enough funding for me, and I didn't have enough time for them. As always though, I made sure to accomodate them as much as possible. One way to do this was by making templates. This template on Canva had the skyline and text as a separate layer from the "super courier". This meant that they could drop any skyline into the background layer and reuse the template for any city specific campaign they needed.

An important aspect of my professional practice is aligning my work with the Buddhist principle of right livelihood — contributing to projects that have a genuinely positive impact on people and communities. Rangjung Yeshe Gomde, a Tibetan Buddhist retreat center in the Austrian prealps, is a long-standing client that reflects this commitment.

I designed and built Gomde’s website from scratch to support their core operational needs. The primary goal was to create a clear, accessible platform for announcing retreats and events, while accommodating a bilingual audience (approximately 75% German-speaking and 25% English-speaking). The site also needed to be easily maintainable by non-technical staff and support extended stays through flexible booking functionality.

The result is a custom WordPress website featuring a multilingual setup, events calendar, blog, and booking system. To reduce operational overhead, I implemented extensive automation using PHP and n8n webhooks. When staff create an event, a corresponding registration form is generated automatically, with dates synchronized to the event while remaining editable by participants. Upon submission, users receive confirmation emails, are added to a Google Calendar event as attendees, and receive automated pre-arrival and post-departure communications.
These automations also provide staff with real-time visibility into attendance numbers, dietary requirements, and accommodation preferences, and sync participants to Mailchimp with language and interest-based tagging for targeted communication. This replaced a previously manual workflow based on printed calendars and spreadsheets, saving significant administrative time.
In addition to the website, I produce Gomde’s monthly podcast, which averages approximately 800 listeners per episode.