01 — Context
The product and the NDA
OpenMyNetwork is a US-based professional networking platform currently in development. As the design team lead, I work across the product — but this case study focuses specifically on the onboarding flow, which is where I've spent the most design time and where the most significant decisions were made.
I'm showing this work without branding, with no identifiable UI elements, and without describing the full feature set. What I can discuss is the design process and the thinking behind the onboarding structure.
02 — The Problem
"Most professional networks lose users
before they've built a single connection."
Onboarding for professional networks is a well-documented UX graveyard. The product needs enough information from users to be useful — but asking too much too early kills completion rates. Finding the right minimum viable profile was the central design challenge.
The additional complexity: OpenMyNetwork has a distinct value proposition from LinkedIn, which means the onboarding couldn't just teach users how to use a profile. It had to teach them what this network is for.
03 — Process
Mapping the critical path
Audit
Benchmarked onboarding flows from LinkedIn, Lunchclub, Bumble Bizz. Documented where each platform asks for information and why. Identified the patterns that correlated with high completion vs. abandonment.
Design
Designed three onboarding flow variants at different information depths. The "minimum viable" flow (3 screens), the "value-first" flow (shows the product before asking for data), and the "progressive" flow (asks over time).
Validate
Moderated usability test with five participants. Value-first flow had the highest completion rate and the highest reported sense of understanding what the product was for — before users had filled anything in.
04 — Design Decisions
What shaped the flow
Show value before asking for data
The core structural decision: users see a preview of what the network looks like with real (anonymized) content before they're asked to create a profile. This changed the conversion framing from "fill this out and trust us" to "this is what you're getting access to."
NDA: no product UI shown
Minimum viable profile — 3 fields only
The initial profile required only three things: name, primary professional area, and what the user is looking for from the network. Everything else — headline, photo, links — is surfaced progressively after the user has engaged with the product once.
05 — Reflection
What I'm taking from this.
The US market moves fast and has high design expectations from users who've been through dozens of onboarding flows. The bar for feeling polished is higher, and users are less forgiving of friction. That's a different calibration than what I'm used to from Japanese products, where trust is built differently.
What I'd keep
The value-first framing. Every onboarding flow I design from here will default to showing the product before asking for input. The data from this project made that decision easy to defend internally.
What I'm still working on
Progressive disclosure of profile completion. We know the minimum works — now the question is how to get users to complete more of their profile over time. That's the next design challenge.