CONTENT DESIGN
ONTOLOGY
RESEARCH
AI-ASSISTED WORKFLOWS
CASE STUDY ·THINKIFIC · CUSTOM ROLES & PERMISSIONS
From prototype to production in five days
A new custom roles and permissions system tested well with customers, but its labels wouldn't scale. I built the language underneath it, tested it with 18 admins and shipped it in under a week.
+0.8
points on ease of use, where 0.5 is a meaningful shift
18
admins tested, five role-creation tasks each
35+
label changes shipped directly into the prototype
THE BRIEF
Admins needed to create their own roles, like Finance Reviewer or Course Support Staff. But permissions were named inconsistently, with vague words like "interact," so the system couldn't grow without confusing the people setting it up.
MY ROLE
Built the verb taxonomy and naming rules, wrote both prototype variants, ran the content A/B test and synthesis, and applied the changes in code.
Five days, start to finish
DAYS 1-2 · PROTOTYPE
Two versions of the same flow
In Figma Make, I built Variant A with the existing labels and Variant B with customer-centric language, consistent patterns and action-oriented helper text, across two flows.
DAY 3 · A/B TEST
18 admins, five tasks each
Each participant created roles in both variants. I used Claude to synthesize 18 transcripts, clips and open responses, so the findings were ready the same day.
DAY 4-5 · WRITE THE RULES
View and Manage, plus six rules
Every permission now starts with View or Manage, and six pattern rules decide how each one is named, ordered and described. I stress-tested the rules with Claude, then used Claude Code to apply 35+ label changes, category reorders and new helper text straight into the prototype.
AFTER LAUNCH · KEEP ITERATING
Launch, learn, iterate
The taxonomy shipped to every customer, not just a test group. New permissions slot into the same structure, and I kept refining it after launch.
WHAT CHANGED
Admins were faster, and more sure they'd got it right.
-
Ease of use up 0.8 points, a 16–24% improvement over the existing labels
-
Higher confidence scores: admins were more certain they'd set permissions correctly
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One shared language across design, engineering and product: no more "update" vs "edit" vs "modify"