About
About
Work/TEFConnect
Platform RedesignUsabilitySocial Platform

TEFConnect

Improving the usability of a social network empowering African entrepreneurs — from hidden login flows and broken features to a delightful experience with 100% task completion rate.

Role

Senior UX Designer

Team

Solo designer +

2 devs

Tools

FigmaDesign & prototyping
Google WorkspaceDocs & sheets
QualtricsSurveys

Timeline

12 weeks

W1W4W8W12
DiscoverAnalyzeDesignValidate
Designed for
desktop

TL;DR — The Outcome

What shipped

  • Evaluated TEFConnect against Nielsen's 10 usability heuristics
  • Identified critical issues via PESTLE analysis of 12 stakeholders
  • Delivered a redesign across 4 iterations and 27 screens
  • 100% task completion rate in usability testing

My role

  • End-to-end user research and usability testing
  • Identified issues through heuristic evaluation
  • Created high-fidelity prototype integrating data-driven recommendations

Timeline

12 weeks (Mar – Jun 2022)

100%Task completionIn usability testing
27Screens redesignedAcross 4 iterations
51Survey responsesQualtrics questionnaire
18Cups of coffeeThe real metric

Next case study

KIA My Sales

Vamsi Karuturi

Senior UX Designer

© 2026 Vamsi Karuturi. Crafted with intention.

01 — Context

TEFConnect site walkthrough

TEFConnect Login page in Feb 2022

A social network for Africa's next generation of entrepreneurs

Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) built something ambitious: a social network called TEFConnect designed to connect aspiring entrepreneurs across the continent. The vision was bold — a LinkedIn meets Facebook for African business minds — but the platform wasn't gaining the traction it deserved. I was brought in to figure out why.

The opportunity was
too good to pass up

Here was a platform with a genuinely important mission — empowering young African entrepreneurs — but struggling to deliver the experience those users deserved. The gap between the vision and the product was where I saw my biggest opportunity to make an impact through design.

02 — Problem Space

The Challenge

TEFConnect had a strong vision, but the experience wasn't keeping up. Despite a recognized brand and a captive audience of entrepreneurs hungry for connection, engagement numbers told a different story. My job: diagnose where the experience was falling short, and redesign the key flows to turn passive visitors into active community members.

My Role

End-to-end UX ownership — from stakeholder analysis and heuristic evaluation through user research, usability testing, and high-fidelity prototyping. I ran the entire research-to-redesign pipeline solo, which meant every insight connected directly to a design decision.

TEFConnect Login page in Jan 2021

TEFConnect Login page in Jan 2021

Aspiring Entrepreneurs

Ages 20–35

MentorshipResourcesCommunityGrowth
Shared need

Seasoned Professionals

Industry mentors

Giving backNetworkingTalent scoutingImpact

Target Audience

Two distinct groups with overlapping needs: aspiring entrepreneurs (mostly 20–35) looking for mentorship and resources, and seasoned professionals willing to guide emerging talent. Both needed a reason to keep coming back.

03 — Stakeholder Analysis

Stakeholder Analysis

Before touching a single wireframe, I needed to understand the ecosystem. A PESTLE analysis (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, Environmental) helped me map the forces shaping TEFConnect — because you can't redesign a product without understanding the organization behind it.

StakeholderCategoryImpact
High impactMedium impactLow impactClick a row to expand
See full stakeholder analysis→

04 — Heuristic Evaluation

First impressions can be deceiving

Before involving users, I wanted my own expert baseline. A structured heuristic review reveals the obvious issues — and sometimes the non-obvious ones hiding in plain sight.

Heuristic Analysis

I walked through the entire platform against Jakob Nielsen's ten usability heuristics scoring each on a 0–4 severity scale. This gave me a prioritized map of what needed attention first.

Severity Rating for Heuristic Evaluation

0I don’t agree that this is a usability problem at all
1Cosmetic problem only: need not be fixed unless extra time is available on project
2Minor usability problem: fixing this should be given low priority
3Major usability problem: important to fix, so should be given high priority
4Usability catastrophe: imperative to fix this before product can be released

The surface looked polished. Underneath? Not so much.

At a glance, TEFConnect looks competent — clean brand colors, generous whitespace, and an optional dark mode. But once I started systematically evaluating it, issues emerged across interaction design, visual design, SEO, and feature functionality. Two heuristics scored a catastrophic 4, one scored a 3 — meaning core features were fundamentally broken.

Heuristic 1

Visibility of System Status

Severity 4 — Catastrophe

A new user could get confused about which tab they're on — there is no visual indicator for the active page. The “New” badge beside Marketplace implies new activity, but it actually refers to Marketplace being a new feature. This is highly misleading.

TEFConnect navigation — no active tab indicator

Search takes 10–15 seconds with no loading indicator. Filters don't apply when toggled. The search results page doesn't even show the keyword that was searched — it only appears in the URL.

Search with no loading indicator

Search with no loading indicator

Search filters have no effect

Switching search filters has no effect

On the profile page, saving changes pops a red dialogue — easily mistaken for an error. The red button at the bottom right looks like a chat bot, but it's actually a non-functional search overlay.

Red success dialog mistaken for error

Red success dialog — easily mistaken for an error

Non-functional search disguised as chatSearch overlay with dark background

Non-functional search disguised as a chat bot

Heuristic 2

Match Between System and the Real World

Severity 0 — No issue

TEFConnect does a great job using familiar words, phrases, and concepts. Information flows in a logical order, and the iconography is conventional — not prone to confusion. No issues here.

Heuristic 3

User Control and Freedom

Severity 2 — Minor

The Community tab redirects to a separate domain (community.tefconnect.com) where Marketplace is unavailable. The logo in Community doesn't redirect back to the main site.

Browser showing community.tefconnect.com URLBrowser showing tefconnect.com/dashboard URL

Inconsistent domains — Community lives on a separate URL with no way back to Marketplace

Adding a calendar event opens a modal with no clear exit button — using the browser's back button takes the user two steps back, which is confusing and disorienting.

Calendar modal with no exit button

No exit button on the calendar modal — back button takes user two steps back

Heuristic 4

Consistency and Standards

Severity 4 — Catastrophe

Messages does not have an option to initiate or send a message from the page itself. To message someone, a user has to search for them first and use the message button from search results — which redirects to an empty messages page, making it look like the feature is broken. For a social platform focused on connecting people, messaging is a core function. This warrants a 4 on the severity scale.

Empty messages page with no way to compose

No way to create or send messages from the messages page

The red button at the bottom right isn't a new message or chat icon despite its placement. It's a search function that doesn't work. On most platforms, that space is conventionally used for chat bots or messaging — users would expect that pattern here.

Heuristic 5

Error Prevention

Severity 3 — Major

Phone numbers aren't validated — users can enter anything and it saves without complaint. No search suggestions are offered when typing, and the “Save Changes” dialog fires even when nothing has changed.

No phone number validation

No validation vs. placeholder format solution

Search with no suggestions

No search suggestions offered

The remaining seven heuristics scored between 0–2. Language and iconography were clear (0), aesthetic design was mostly clean with minor redundancy in navigation (1), and keyboard shortcuts existed but were undiscoverable (0). The full evaluation covers all 10 heuristics with screenshots and proposed solutions.

See full Heuristic Analysis→

05 — User Research

Time to hear from the people who matter most

My heuristic review told me what was broken. Now I needed to understand who was breaking against it — their habits, expectations, and what “good” looks like to them.

User Surveys

Numbers tell a different story than interviews. I distributed a Qualtrics survey across entrepreneurial communities on Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit — deliberately casting a wide net to capture perspectives beyond TEF's existing user base. One week, 51 responses.

What I set out to learn:

  • Who are these users? (demographics, education, occupation)
  • What do they expect from a platform like this?
  • What personality traits define the target audience?
  • What are they actually trying to accomplish?
  • What do they love and hate about the current experience?
  • How does their social media behavior elsewhere inform expectations?
See full User Survey analytics→

Gender distribution

♀Female
59%
♂Male
39%
⚧Non-binary
2%

Age distribution

106responses
76.1%19–29
15.2%30–49
8.7%≤ 18

How the research was carried out

📋

Quantitative Survey

A 22-question Qualtrics survey mixing quantitative scales with open-ended qualitative prompts. Distributed across entrepreneurial communities on Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit — deliberately targeting people outside TEF's existing user base to avoid bias.

46

responses

5

days active

22

questions

Questions covered four areas:

  • Demographics — age, gender, education, income, employment, industry
  • Social media habits — frequency, motivation, preferred devices, priorities
  • Entrepreneurship interest — willingness to join, primary goals, wishlist
  • TEFConnect feedback — awareness, experience ratings, expected content
🎙️

Semi-Structured Interview

A task-based interview with a potential user — a full-time student and part-time UX designer familiar with platforms like LinkedIn, categorized as an “intermediate” user for TEFConnect's audience.

The interviewee was asked to perform specific actions based on known use cases, starting from finding the site via Google search and diving into each section. Feedback on experience, satisfaction, emotion, and motivation was captured after each task.

Key outcomes:

  • Confirmed most pain points from the heuristic evaluation
  • The landing image was mistaken for TEF's founder — a brand identity issue
  • The social feed felt self-generated; lack of events and news made it feel disjointed
  • Privacy policy modal appeared on every page load — preferences weren't saved
  • Core functions (search, messages, calendar) didn't work as intended

Personas

Persona 1 — Nina Azarova
Persona 2 — Shane Seok
Persona 3 — Liya Keita
Persona 4 — Johann Wald

User Stories

With survey data and personas in hand, I translated research into actionable user stories. These became my north star for every design decision that followed — grounding the work in real user intent, not assumptions.

“If I were a first-time entrepreneur in Lagos, what would I need from this platform?”

See all User Stories→

Does the content earn the user's attention?

A social platform lives or dies by its content. If users don't find value in what they see, no amount of polish will bring them back.

PageKey MessageAccuracyQualityVisitorsOrgFlag
Ratings:GoodOKPoor|HighMediumLow

Auditing every page, systematically

Using the user stories as my measuring stick, I inventoried and audited every piece of content on the platform — checking for accuracy, relevance, and whether it actually served the users or just filled space.

The audit revealed a pattern:

  • 4 pages flagged red — Networking, Marketplace, Messages, and Calendar. These core features were either poorly populated or outright non-functional. For a social platform, that's devastating.
  • The written content was mostly on-target for the audience, which was encouraging — but quality was wildly inconsistent across sections, eroding trust.

06 — Usability Testing

Putting assumptions to the test

Watching real users struggle in real time

I ran moderated usability tests with 5 participants over Zoom, watching their faces and tracking their cursor movements as they attempted core tasks on the live site. Nothing humbles your assumptions faster than observing someone genuinely confused by something you thought was obvious.

The three biggest pain points, validated by every participant:

  • Finding mentors, investors, or fellow entrepreneurs felt like a guessing game — no clear path to discovery.
  • Core social features were broken: messaging didn't work, people search was unreliable, filters were non-functional.
  • The login itself was a usability test failure — the credential entry was hidden behind a tiny, easily overlooked text link.
See full Usability test documentation→
Methodology
AttendanceRemote, using Zoom to track user movement and facial expressions
LocationRemote
ModerationModerated by Vamsi Karuturi
Participant recruitmentResearcher’s friends, colleagues, and relatives
CompensationNo compensation was offered
Study ObjectivesExpected outcomes
1Evaluation of success for primary goals (using the site’s most dominant features).
2Understand points of frustration in discoverability.
3Understand points of frustration in navigation.
Research QuestionsTo be answered by this study
1What are the success rates for primary tasks?
2Does the site feel trustworthy?
3Does the site feel easy to use?
4Does the site feel safe to use?
9
Participants
9
Tasks Tested
10
Issues Found
55%
Overall Success
Task PerformanceSuccess rate per task
1Connect with entrepreneurs
60%
2Connect with mentors
40%
3Connect with investors
0%
4Create event for business
40%
5Message connections
100%
6Showcase own ideas
40%
7Interact with community section
20%
8Log in with social login
100%
9Use filters successfully
40%
Critical Issues
  • •Login barriers affected all participants
  • •No explicit "connect" feature for networking
  • •Network filters proved difficult to use
  • •Messaging feature caused disorientation
  • •Interactive map lacked discoverability
Post-Test Observations
  • •Incoherent product positioning confused users
  • •Universal difficulty connecting with other users
  • •Navigation challenges in Network section
  • •Font readability concerns raised by multiple users
  • •Insufficient human element affecting user trust

07 — Design Decisions

From diagnosis to design decisions

Every research insight mapped to a concrete design intervention. Here are the three highest-impact areas I tackled first.

Rebuild the discovery engine

The networking filters were fundamentally broken. I redesigned the search and filtering system so users could find mentors, investors, and peers by industry, location, and expertise — the features they told us they needed most.

Make messaging actually work

Private communication is the lifeblood of a professional network. The existing messaging feature was non-functional — I designed a reliable, intuitive messaging flow that made one-on-one connection effortless.

Clarify the community model

Users were confused about what “community” meant within a platform that was already a community. I restructured the information architecture to give the community section a clear purpose and distinct identity.

The redesigned experience

Loading prototype…

08 — Validation

Did the redesign actually solve the problems?

Round two: testing the redesigned prototype

The difference was immediate and measurable. The network page — the biggest pain point in the original site — went from a source of confusion to the feature participants were most excited about.

Key areas I redesigned:

  • Login flow — from hidden to unmistakable.
  • Home feed — stripped away clutter, surfaced what users actually care about.
  • Network page — completely rebuilt around discovery and connection.

This wasn't a full-site redesign — time constraints meant I had to be strategic about where to focus. But the targeted interventions paid off: users completed every task they'd previously failed at, and time-on-task dropped significantly across the board.

See full Usability Recommendation report→

09 — Final Designs

Login — Social sign-in & onboarding
Login — Social sign-in & onboarding
Home — Activity feed & business tools
Home — Activity feed & business tools
Network — Discovery map & role filters
Network — Discovery map & role filters
Messaging — Direct connection flow
Messaging — Direct connection flow
55%→100%Task completion improvement
10Usability issues resolved
3Key flows redesigned
9Participants tested

“The prototype is a delightful experience!”

— Usability test participant, round 2

10 — Reflections

Reflections& what comes next

Good design is never finished

This project reinforced something I believe deeply: design is a loop, not a line. The improvements I made are a strong starting point, but the real magic happens when you keep listening to users and iterating. TEFConnect's audience is evolving, and the experience should evolve with them.

The hardest recommendation I made was also the most important: infusing the platform with a stronger human element. That's not a quick fix — it requires rethinking the product story and carefully managing the shift for existing users. But for a networking platform, trust isn't optional. It's the foundation everything else is built on.