PepTalk

peptalk

Creating a coach-led learning platform designed to give teams a timely boost when it matters the most.

in-house

PepTalk

Year

2019

Role

Principal Product Designer

Skills

Product design
Art direction
Design systems

the challenge

Design an MVP learning platform in an emerging market to gain investor buy-in for a global start-up.

PepTalk is a live video coaching and speaking platform that connects you and your team to curated real-world experts.

I joined the founding team to help shape the first version of the product at a critical moment. The focus wasn’t just on creating a usable and distinctive product. The product also had to have a clear, believable story that could support early growth, investor conversations and a confident market launch.

My initial brief was to help scope and develop an MVP platform to gain investor buy-in for a gap in the market to connect two growing segments: talent-driven personalised video content and motivational wellbeing.

the approach

I spent time with the founders to understand what success looked like in the short and long term.

We aligned on the role the MVP needed to play in PepTalk’s go-to-market plan and what problems it actually needed to solve first.

I then carried out a competitor analysis audit in both the personalised talent-driven video content and motivational wellbeing markets to identify gaps, help focus on audience needs, and to prioritise features that enrich the core experience.

Conversion driven design

To ground decisions in real behaviour, I created a small set of lean personas that represented PepTalk’s key audiences, including end users, coaches and corporate buyers. These weren’t heavy documents, but practical tools we could refer back to when making trade-offs.

Mapping journeys and structure

Using these personas, I mapped out key user journeys across the platform, supported by user flows and a phased sitemap.

This helped us stay focussed on key moments (such as discovering a coach, making a booking and receiving a PepTalk) and design around the motivations behind each step.

Validating ideas

Before moving into high-fidelity design, I sketched low-fidelity wireframes to explore different ways the product could work. This allowed us to test structure, flow, and priorities quickly, having more grounded conversations with stakeholders early on, and simplifying journeys and removing unnecessary friction.

Core site screens

The key goal here was to get users to schedule with a mentor and to the booking funnel with ease.

Booking funnel

A clean and minimal booking funnel to get the user to convert with as little distractions as possible.

PepTalk Coaches app

A streamlined onboarding process to get coaches through to their dashboard to see their bookings.

PepTalk consumers app

The consumer app focusses on the key user goal to accept calls from PepTalk coaches.

the product

With a clear understanding of the market, audience needs, and core journeys, the focus shifted to bringing the product to life.

Every design decision at this stage was informed by the earlier discovery work, factoring in what the product needed to say, who it needed to work for, and where it needed to stay deliberately simple.

Brand development was happening alongside product design, so I worked in parallel, translating the emerging brand into real pages, components, and interactions as it took shape. I designed the core product screens while also building a flexible design system that could support future growth.

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Landing pages

I worked with an illustrator to introduce bespoke illustrations to landing pages I created to help give PepTalk distinctive brand assets which could be easily customisable to reuse throughout the site.

Corporate clients section

After the product had successfully launched, I was later asked to develop a corporate clients area for HR managers to use to distribute PepTalks to their colleagues.

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the impact

The MVP gave PepTalk a clear product narrative and a credible platform to support launch, investment, and early growth.

Investor-ready product foundation

The work resulted in a cohesive, end-to-end MVP that clearly articulated PepTalk’s value proposition, supporting early investor conversations and helping define a new product category.

Go-to-market clarity

A focused feature set, simplified booking flow, and strong visual identity enabled PepTalk to launch with confidence, communicating what the product was, who it was for, and why it mattered.

Built to scale

A flexible design system, core product flows, and later expansion into a corporate clients area laid the foundations for a scalable B2B SaaS platform.

Selected works

PepTalkProduct + Marketing site // Hands-on product design

BromptonE-commerce site // Hands-on UI + creative leadership

DeckersSaaS products // Product design leadership

CEPBrand + digital hub design // Creative direction

Grow with GoogleDigital programme // Product design leadership

Haagen-DazsExtraordinary Luxurious Campaign OOH + Packaging // Creative leadership

SEGAPitch + Flagship website // Hands-on concepting + design, CX leadership

hello [at] sheetalschofield [dot] com

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