Stella Burin
Personais
And when data signals the need to reassess a project?
Project
The goal was to develop a comprehensive app for personal trainers, featuring tools for student management, workout planning, progress tracking, and direct communication.
As a Product Designer, I led a deep strategic assessment, mapping real user needs, validating hypotheses through research, and aligning market data with technical feasibility.
The outcome? Despite clear demand, the project lacked sufficient technical and financial viability to move forward. This case reinforces a crucial truth: not every idea should become a product. It’s the designer’s role to make tough decisions grounded in data and business value.
Roles
- Role: Product Designer
- Focus area: product strateg - UX Research - feasibility validation
- Tools: Miro, Adobe XD, Photoshop, Illustrator
- Team: Gustavo Barros (PO) / Fabio Ruhe (Front-end) / Gabriel Ferrari (Back-end)
- Scope: full strategic evaluation of the project, including user research, competitor analysis, feature definition, technical effort estimation, and business value ranking
Discovery and user research
We conducted ideation and benchmarking sessions to understand the market and define clear objectives. I led semi-structured interviews with 25 personal trainers, exploring their experiences with existing apps, frustrations, and real needs.
The data was coded and analyzed qualitatively, revealing key patterns such as:
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lack of workout personalization
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unintuitive interfaces
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inefficient progress tracking tools
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frustration with ad-based monetization
These insights provided a solid foundation for designing solutions more aligned with user expectations.
Business Value vs Technical effort
To support strategic decision-making, I proposed a business value vs. technical effort matrix.
Despite promising insights, the ranking revealed that the desired features would require high technical and financial investment, even to reach a competitive minimum viable product.
Monetization options (subscription or advertising) proved unsustainable when compared to market competition and user profiles.
Strategic decision to halt development
Based on data, insights, and analysis, I concluded that the project lacked sufficient viability to move forward.
Reflections and key learnings
Projects don’t always end with a production release. Sometimes, the greatest value lies in knowing when to stop.
This case represents one of the most important moments in my journey as a Product Designer: realizing that validating an idea also means knowing when not to execute it.
Making tough decisions based on data is a core part of our responsibility.
Ending a project is not failure. It’s applying design with accountability. And that, too, is success.
