Webbie : A Platform to Showcase Real-World Web Design
A curated platform that shifts focus from just beautiful visuals to usable, practical, and impactful designs.
May 2024 - Oct 2024
Project Highlights
Team
CVSpan, UK , London - Design Agency
Worked closely with other designers to shape the vision and maintain quality standards.
My Contributions
- User Research
- UI/UX Design
- Strategy & Structure
- User acceptance testing
Contributors
- 3 Engineers
- 4 Product designer
- Product Manager
Platform
Web + Admin
A Beacon for Realism in Digital Design
In a digital space saturated with pixel-perfect illusions, Webbie.io was designed to cut through the noise, a curated platform that champions clarity, function, and realism in product design. It serves as a compass for designers seeking more than visual flair, anchoring creativity in usability, feasibility, and user context.
Too often, design circles celebrate aesthetic brilliance at the expense of deployable solutions. Interfaces are crafted to impress, but not to perform. Webbie.io challenges that trend by spotlighting designs that work in the real world.
At CVSpan, I collaborated with other designers to build Webbie.io, from platform architecture to visual language and vetting workflows. Our goal was to build a space that not only inspires, but educates filtering out impractical submissions and elevating work that balances beauty with purpose.
Goal
To establish a curated platform that champions realistic, usable, and context-aware digital product design by setting a new standard for what “good design” means in Nigeria’s tech ecosystem
Outcome
In just three months, Webbie.io published over 40+ curated designs and engaged more than 50 designers from around the world through its submission and claim process. With a 90% approval rate and 70% returning users, the platform set a new benchmark for realistic, usable, and inspiring digital design globally.
Process
“The project followed a lean process of research, ideation, design, and collaboration; focused on delivering a curated platform quickly and effectively.”
Grounding the Problem
To understand the design culture, we spoke with designers in Nigeria and beyond to learn why impractical design trends were popular and what type of platform they would find useful. This was done through
1:1 Conversations
- Quick interviews with fellow designers in my network to get raw opinions on design inspiration platforms.
Online Surveys
- Short forms shared with design communities (e.g., WhatsApp/Slack groups, Twitter) to capture broader perspectives.
Community Discussions
- Observing and engaging in conversations on platforms like Twitter Spaces, design forums, and local meetups to identify pain points.
Key Insight
Many designers admitted they were influenced by global platforms(like Dribble) where visual appeal outweighed usability. They expressed the need for a curated platform that balanced aesthetic inspiration with practical functionality — validating Webbie.io’s direction.
Ideation
“How do we inspire designers with realistic work while keeping quality high?”
In early brainstorming, we agreed every design should be vetted before it goes live, giving the platform credibility. We also shaped a simple submission flow, so designers could claim their work easily.
We also explored the browsing experience. It wasn’t enough to just display designs, however we wanted visitors to quickly discover functional, inspiring work without feeling overwhelmed. Finally, we considered the global audience. While Webbie.io was born from the Nigerian design community, we wanted it to feel inclusive and useful for designers everywhere.
These early conversations and sketches shaped Webbie.io Webbie.io into more than a gallery, it became a curated design hub built on quality, recognition, and usability.
Key aspects of the solution:
Vetting System: Experienced designers review submissions to maintain quality and realism.
Dashboard view showing pending designer submissions awaiting vetting
Claim Request: Designers can claim ownership of their work for recognition and authenticity.
User-facing screen from the webbie.io website
Global Access: Designers from around the world can participate and get inspired. Also provides a library of practical, high-quality designs for the design community to learn from.
A snapshot of the live site showcasing design work from different countries across the globe.
Conclusion
Webbie.io proved that when design is curated with intention, it inspires more than just aesthetics—it encourages practical, usable, and globally relevant design. Leading this project showed me the value of combining design leadership, collaboration, and curation to build something that designers everywhere can learn from.