How the collaboration worked

Laura led the visual and UX research side of the project; I covered the technical implementation and infrastructure setup. We worked with a constant cross-review dynamic — every deliverable passed through both hands before it was considered done.

Decisions that made a difference

• Fewer slides, more prototypes. We replaced static Figma documents with navigable prototypes to validate real flows, not mockups.
• Accessibility from day one. We added WCAG checklists to every design review.
• Handoff as a conversation, not an export. We replaced exports with live pairing sessions with the code open.

What we took away

A reproducible workflow, three features shipped in 10 weeks and a handoff guide we kept using a year later.