Hive Social
Company
Hive Social
Role
Product & Brand Design
Industry
Social Media
Date
Aug 2021 - Dec 2024
Project Introduction
As Lead Designer at Hive, I helped transform an early-stage concept into a viral social platform. With a focus on user experience, branding, and interface design, I crafted an intuitive, visually engaging product that prioritized authenticity over algorithms.
Highlight work done
Component Library: Led end-to-end UX and visual design, including a component library and branding system
Onboarding: Created a seamless onboarding experience, improving user acquisition and retention
Personalization tools: Designed an expressive, customizable profile system with flexible content creation
Mod Tools: Moderator safety tools for a safer experience
Logo and Branding: A recognizable brand that connected to the name and mission of Hive
Media tools: Flexible media upload experience for multimedia attachments
Messaging experience: A robust messaging system where users can communicate and send each other interactive components
Before and after
When I first found Hive, it looked like what you see on the left. After working on it and building a solid component library, it evolved into the version on the right. The new design gave everything more space to breathe, making content easier to take in. Icons were cleaned up for a more consistent look, and we leaned into familiar social media patterns to make the experience feel fun and personal.
One of the biggest wins was the custom theme colors. Users loved picking their own and seeing it reflected in buttons, links, and loading screens. The ability to add music to profiles and showcase zodiac signs also made it feel more expressive and unique.
Drag the purple handle to see the before and after image
The impact of the design
Reached #1 on the App Store, gaining 500K+ signups in one week
Surpassed 2 million users, offering a unique alternative to traditional platforms
Became a home for communities seeking control over their content and social experience
Rise in MAU, and retention from useres
My experience
While working on Hive, I picked up a lot of skills that were unique to the social media industry. I learned how to create reusable components that could support all kinds of content, like images, videos, GIFs, multi-image posts, text, and links. More importantly, I focused on making these components flexible enough to feel personal and unique to each user. Simple elements like app icons, color themes, zodiac symbols, profile music, and pronouns gave people the ability to shape their experience in a way that felt meaningful to them.
One of the biggest takeaways from this project was seeing how users interacted with Hive in ways I didn’t expect. Unlike a to-do list app or other more structured platforms, Hive became a space for people to express themselves, journal, and process their thoughts. Their profiles weren’t just accounts—they were personal spaces they cared for and curated as extensions of themselves.
What made this project so rewarding was the connection to the community. I saw post after post from users talking about how Hive became an outlet for them, a place where they could be themselves without the overwhelming algorithms of Instagram and X. Knowing that something I helped design gave people that kind of freedom and expression made this one of the most fulfilling projects I’ve worked on.
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