Just Us
Redesigning Trust in Digital Conversations
From a Scattered MVP to a Brand That Feels Safe
2023 - 2024
Client: Just Us Privacy Chat App
Type: Product Design, UX Research, Brand Identity
Role: Product Designer & UX Research Lead (with Multipasss)
Focus: Rebranding and validating a privacy-first chat app
Stage: Pre-seed product and brand redesign
From technical MVP to a brand that feels safe
When the founder first approached us, he had an Android MVP — a “privacy chat” app that promised security but looked anything but safe. It was more of proof of concept for his patented method of securing chats.
The name suggested a photo-sharing tool, the interface felt outdated, and the brand didn’t inspire trust.
Before seeking funding, the team needed a total rethink: a story, a look, and a product vision people could believe in.
Over lunch at a Korean BBQ, the song Just Us by Harry Styles played. I suggested renaming the app Just Us — a phrase that instantly captured the feeling of intimacy and privacy the product was meant to protect.
Everyone agreed. That moment sparked a full design transformation.
The challenge
The app had working privacy tech but zero emotional credibility.
Our goal was to rebuild trust from the ground up — crafting a brand, UX, and validation process that made the promise of safety feel real.
The Opportunity
Rebrand the product so it conveyed protection, not secrecy.
Validate the market need with qualitative and quantitative research.
Create a design system investors could instantly understand and users could instinctively trust.
What We Did
I led the rebrand, UX direction, and early validation work: renaming the product, designing its visual system, defining personas, mapping journeys, and creating a phased product strategy aligned with funding reality.
1.Renaming & Brand Concept
We renamed the app "Just Us" a phrase that immediately communicates intimacy and private space.
From there, we crafted a visual identity that balanced protection and warmth: a fingerprint-chat logo, a cyan and soft pink palette, and a type system that felt confident yet human.
2.Research & Validation
Through interviews, surveys, and competitive analysis, we captured real anxieties about screenshots, leaks, and digital permanence across generations.
We synthesised the findings into personas and testing cards that grounded every design decision in actual behaviour and motivations.
3.Experience & Product Strategy
We mapped the end-to-end journey from onboarding and first chat to panic-cover behaviour and alerts and proposed a phased roadmap:
first apply the new brand to the existing MVP, then progressively improve UX flows, and later evolve toward a best-in-class messaging experience.
4.UI Design & Prototyping
We created three levels of UI evolution, from a light reskin of the current MVP to a fully refined interface benchmarked against modern messaging apps.
This gave the founder visual options to match different funding and development scenarios.
Key Insights
"Trust is as much a design problem as it is a technical one.
People decide whether to believe in a product within seconds of seeing it."
Trust Starts With Clarity
A simple, confident brand story made it easier for people to understand what Just Us is for and why it exists.
Privacy Has Generational Flavours
Gen Z, millennials, and older users worry about different things from screenshots to professional leak so features and messaging must reflect that.
Phased Roadmaps Reduce Risk
By offering a staged evolution of the product, the founder could show progress to investors without overcommitting dev resources too early.
Design Is a Signal of Seriousness
The shift from a generic-looking MVP to a thoughtful, emotionally intelligent interface changed how investors and users perceived the entire product.
These insights shaped a path where Just Us could grow into a trusted privacy brand instead of remaining a technical experiment.
ROI
For the Product
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The new name, identity, and UX direction repositioned "Just Us" as a credible privacy tool.
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The landing page and visuals became core assets in investor conversations and early testing.
For the Founder
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With a clearer story, visual system, and research-backed personas, the founder gained confidence to pursue funding and refine the roadmap.
For My Practice
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This project reinforced how brand, UX, and research work together to turn abstract security promises into something people can actually trust.
