Stryda

• Leading design for a planned social platform built around AI-generated match highlights
• Designing the social feed, video editor, Battle Pass, and missions
• Coordinating product, design, and engineering before the company closed ahead of beta

Overview

As Head of Product Design at Stryda, formerly G-Loot, I led design for its shift to a social gaming platform in spring 2023. The experience centered on Recap, an AI feature that generated highlight videos from players' matches.

Problem

G-Loot's platform was built around competition, but had no space for gamers to share or discover each other's best moments. Recap needed a home, and the platform needed a reason for people to open it outside of match days.

Approach

Working with the team, I designed a social feed for Recap videos, achievements, and other players' content. Familiar patterns from Strava, Instagram, and Facebook informed likes, shares, and comments, while the feed adapted to each user's activity and interests.

Competition remained central to the experience. Widgets showed Battle Pass progress, active missions, and standings, alongside a feature showing players how their peers rated them.

Recap needed to work across a wide range of PC hardware without requiring video editing skills. I worked closely with engineering on multi-match sessions and storage limits to keep capture and video generation straightforward.

Using the CSS framework from G-Loot, we prototyped new screens and iterated through November, ahead of a planned test at one of Stockholm's largest gaming centers.

Outcome

On December 16, 2023, before the planned beta launch, the board decided to discontinue Stryda and file for bankruptcy. The social platform did not reach launch.

My role

As Head of Product Design, I led three areas:

• Product strategy: shaping the direction of the social platform and keeping decisions aligned with that vision.
• Team coordination: working with and mentoring a team of product managers, engineers, and UX/UI designers.
• Cross-team process: building the workflows that kept design, engineering, and the business side moving together.

Reflection

Designing around Recap meant adapting to changing technical constraints while keeping the experience coherent. Although the social platform never launched, the work deepened my experience of leading design through uncertainty and staying close to engineering.