Our recent cases. Just a sample, from startups to F500.
How We Crossed 1M Views Reach on Instagram Without Paid Ads From Zero?
Here’re 3 rules.
Post regularly. Imperfect and posted beats perfect post in drafts. We kept a simple weekly cadence and stuck to it.
Keep the content uniform. If people follow us for product and app concepts, we show them those. Different spheres but similar format.
Be human. We reply to comments, ask questions, and jump into DMs. Even for a business profile real human voice wins.
Bonus point. When we swapped a 3D avatar for a dog photo – follow rate went up :)
You don’t need ads to hit 1M views reach. We did it from zero.
The Notification that Ruins the Game
I met today with a brilliant design researcher working in sports. He shared a great little story about notifications in sports apps.
Designers often think they’re doing something positive – helping fans celebrate a goal, or keeping them updated on big moments. The intention is good.
But here’s the problem: most people hate them. Why? Because live broadcasts have delays – sometimes 10 or even 30 seconds.
Imagine this: you’re watching Chelsea fight for their lives in defence. Suddenly, you get a notification – “Chelsea score!” A few seconds later, you see the counterattack start… and 10 seconds later Chelsea concede. Spoiler delivered, experience ruined.
It’s a funny example of how a feature that looks good in theory completely fails in the real world.
The lesson? When you ship new features, test them yourself.
Install them on your own phone, live with them for a few days. You’ll spot problems much faster – and fix them before users hate them.
How to Make Async Design Review?
Our best design reviews happen while half the team is asleep
At Humbleteam, our projects run across San Francisco, Dubai and London. Waiting for overlap would kill our speed, so we made design reviews fully async. Before clocking off, each designer records a short Loom (3 to 5 minutes) walking through their Figma file. They don’t just show screens – they explain reasoning, trade-offs and open questions.
While they sleep, teammates drop comments, tag components, suggest tweaks.
Because no one’s in a rush to “just decide,” the feedback is sharper and more thoughtful.
By morning, the designer wakes up to a prioritized list of changes – no meetings, no “can we hop on a call?” back-and-forth.
We’ve cut iteration cycles from three days to one.
The work moves 24/7, even when we don’t.
Good async reviews aren’t about Loom or Figma. They’re about clarity, discipline and trusting your team to keep building while you rest.
Every Product Leader Should Ask Their Team This
Two days ago, I had the chance to speak at the conference in Germany focused on medical UX. It was great to catch up with professionals from across the field – from fast-moving startups to enterprise-scale companies.
The best part was getting a quick snapshot of the industry from dozens of product and design leaders. And one big pattern stood out: teams still work in silos.
Designers and researchers don’t always talk.
Researchers say they have tons of data – but designers rarely use it. Product managers and engineers often lose context.
It’s a common story. We’ve seen it in startups too. If you stop a random person in your team – designer, engineer, whoever – and ask them what your one-year vision is, there’s a good chance they’ll struggle to answer.
And that’s a problem, because alignment builds motivation.
When everyone knows where to dig, the work goes faster – and in one direction.
So here’s a small check you can try: Ask 3-4 people in your team what they think your product will look like in a year. Listen carefully. The differences might surprise you.
I did this right after the conference with one of the startups we work with – and the answers ranged from “we’re going deeper into B2C” to “we’re pivoting to B2G.”
Turns out, clarity isn’t a given – even in great teams.
What Humbleteam does for sports companies
Humbleteam helps European sports clubs, leagues, federations and sports-tech brands design, optimise and scale world-class digital products. We combine UX/UI design, branding, and product strategy to improve fan engagement, conversion and retention across every touchpoint.
Optimise and grow existing digital products
We analyse fan behaviour, identify friction in membership, ticketing and merchandising flows, and deliver UX solutions that increase LTV, conversion and revenue. Our team uncovers what drives loyalty and turns insights into clear product opportunities.
Invent and design new fan-focused products
From fan engagement platforms and matchday apps to athlete management systems, OTT experiences and fantasy games — we help sports organisations define product-market fit and build high-impact digital experiences.
Our core services
Audit & research: fan motivation, behaviour and UX opportunities.
App design: membership, loyalty, content, and in-stadium experiences.
Website design: fast, conversion-driven sports websites.
Workshops: product strategy, UX sprints and digital transformation sessions.
Who we work with
Sports clubs and organisations, leagues and federations, sportswear and equipment brands, OTT and streaming platforms, wellness and fitness tech, esports and fan engagement products.
Good UX is Invisible
Last year, while redesigning a fintech app, we heard the same feedback again and again: “Everything just feels smoother now.”
Users couldn’t point to a specific button, screen, or flow. What they noticed was the absence of friction. Fewer dead ends, fewer questions like “What does this mean?” or “Where do I go next?”
That’s the paradox of UX design: the better the work, the less visible it becomes. But it’s not accidental. Each invisible improvement is the result of dozens of micro-decisions-language tweaks, hierarchy adjustments, error states clarified, onboarding flows refined.
When people don’t notice UX, it means they can stay focused on their actual goals – booking a flight, paying a bill, sending money – without distraction.
That’s the measure of success: not delight for its own sake, but clarity that fades into the background.
Why a $250K Branding Disaster Can Happen to Your Startup Too
I just witnessed something that made my stomach drop.
We started to work with a promising B2C startup that threw $250,000 at a prestigious branding agency... and completely abandoned everything 4 weeks after brand launch.
Here's what went wrong.
This wasn't some amateur operation. They got the full package – stunning logo, comprehensive brand guidelines, tone of voice documentation, business cards, t-shirts, etc. The kind of branding deck that wins design awards.
But then came the brutal reality check
Their best-performing marketing materials? Founder selfie videos shot on an iPhone. Raw, authentic, completely off-brand content that actually converted users.
The beautiful brand identity? Nowhere to be seen in their customer journey. Think about it – when did you last see a business card? I haven't touched one since COVID. Their target audience wasn't browsing LinkedIn profiles or admiring branded merchandise. They were scrolling TikTok and responding to authentic, unpolished content.
The real branding truth – when we work with well-funded startups (sometimes $10M+ rounds), we focus obsessively on just 3-4 touchpoints:
1) Your landing page (obviously)
2) Sales presentations (for B2B)
3) Ad creatives (for B2C)
4) Your actual product interface
Everything else? Noise.
Here's what nobody talks about: Your brand will evolve whether you plan for it or not. That intern making $700/month in Poland who's cranking out your social media content? They're actually defining your brand more than that expensive agency ever will.
Funny and expensive lesson I got recently – we designed beautiful fintech cards for younger users, then the startup pivoted to target 40+ affluent customers. Guess what? Our "award-worthy" design suddenly looked completely wrong for the new demographic.
The lesson? Your brand needs to be built for iteration, not perfection.
Hence my battle-tested approach:
- Identify your 2-3 critical brand touchpoints. Where do customers actually experience your brand? Focus there.
- Launch fast, iterate faster. Your post-launch brand (after months of conversion optimization) will look nothing like your initial design.
- Prepare for reality That junior designer optimizing your ad performance? They're your real brand designer.
Photo attached? Our Design Director in his racing suit completely branded in Humbleteam branding 💪
Redesigns Don’t Always Solve the Problem
Sometimes, UX fails not because the visuals are bad, but because the real issue was never identified.
I’ve seen products invest months into shiny redesigns, only to face the same complaints from users. Why? Because the bottleneck wasn’t colors or layouts- it was flows, onboarding, or even misaligned incentives.
One project we worked on looked “outdated” at first glance.
The client wanted a visual refresh. But user research revealed the actual pain: customers couldn’t complete a critical task without asking for support. No color palette would fix that.
Instead of pushing pixels, we restructured the flow, simplified decision points, and cut the support tickets in half. The UI looked fresher, yes–but the real win came from solving the underlying friction.
So before thinking “redesign,” ask: do we actually understand the problem? Are we chasing aesthetics, or outcomes?
Because in UX, beauty without usability is just decoration.