MAS9

Designing 0-1 Core Workflows for a Martial Arts School Management Platform, Driving 400% Paid User Growth

Designing End-to-End Core Features for a Martial Arts School Management Platform: 400% Growth

Timeline

Early 2025

Responsibility

Led 0-1 Design

Role & Team

Product designer working with
the CEO and 2 software engineers

Overview

Context

In early 2025, I joined MAS9 as a Product Designer at the company's founding stage. As a martial arts school management platform, MAS9 required a wide range of functionality to support school operations.

However, the existing system was developed with a ‘feature-first’ approach that neglected essential user workflows. As a result, school administrators had to manually manage core tasks such as collecting registration information and responding to daily inquiries outside the platform, creating fragmented workflows and significant operational overhead.

In early 2025, I joined MAS9 as a Product Designer at the company's founding stage. As a martial arts school management platform, the product required diverse and complex functionality to serve school operations effectively.

However, the existing product had significant gaps: essential features were missing, and the available functionality was developed with a feature-first approach rather than user-centered design. This created significant usability barriers, making it difficult for school operators to understand and effectively utilize the system.

Goal

Design a configurable registration form system and a unified messaging tool that school operators can use without leaving the platform.

My Role

As a sole designer, took full ownership of both workflows from wireframes to final Figma designs, partnering with CEO on problem definition and direction, and working directly with engineers through implementation.

Impact

Lowered the barrier to adoption by making core workflows intuitive and reliable, contributing to scaling from 0 to 100+ paid schools.
Users described the platform as significantly easier than competitor tools.

Understanding Martial Arts School Requirements

Unlike fitness or beauty industries, martial arts schools primarily serve families with unique operational needs.

Event management (rank promotions, camps, tournaments)
Parent-led registration as primary decision makers for minor students

These requirements directly shaped how I designed the platform, starting with the registration workflow.

Project 1
Registration Form System Design

Challenge

Schools needed a shareable registration link that could handle multiple scenarios — membership enrollment, trials, and event sign-ups — for both existing members and external participants, but no such system existed. As a result, administrators had to manually handle all registrations, making it unsustainable as the number of programs and participants grew.

Approach

Discovery & Insights

Discovery & Insights

Through direct feedback from school operators, I identified two critical requirements that shaped the feature direction.

The "Interface-Barrier" (Administrators)

Flexible to Diverse School Operations

Administrators needed to create forms for various scenarios (Events, Memberships, Lead Capture), but they were easily overwhelmed by complex settings.

Martial arts schools run diverse programs (rank promotion test, camps, tournaments, trials). A template-based system aligned with core use cases ensures consistency and efficiency.

The "Family" Context (End-User)

Parents are the primary users filling out forms. A major friction point was the inability to register multiple children in a single session. The system needed to distinguish between the 'Payer' (Parent) and 'Participant' (Member).

Development Timeline & Focus

Development Timeline & Focus

Given the demanding 0-1 development timeline and limited resources, I focused on maximizing system versatility and minimizing setup complexity, directly addressing the Interface-Barrier insight.

Design Principles

Design Principles

Flexible to Diverse School Operations:
Design a system that accommodates widely varying programs (e.g. Rank promotion test, camps, trials)

Lower Barrier for Admins:
Eliminate the "Interface-Barrier" by prioritizing intuitive setup.

Unified Flow for All User Types:
Create a single flow that differentiates between existing members, new participants, parents, and guardians to prevent data duplication and errors.

Solution

Template-Based Structure

Template-Based Structure

Ready-made templates (trial sign-up, lead capture, memberships, events) with customizable fields reduce admin burden while supporting diverse needs.

Family Registration in One Session:

Family Registration in One Session:

Built an email-based verification flow that detects user type and personalizes the registration process, enabling parents to register multiple family members in one session.

Separate Buyer’s Information

Separate Buyer’s Information

Distinguish between decision maker (parent) and participant (child) data fields

Result & Learnings

Success

Became one of the most frequently used features for school operations
Successfully addressed the core business need for external registration feature
Users praised the event/trial registration functionality as more intuitive and seamless than competitor platforms

Became one of the most frequently used features for school operations

Successfully addressed the core business need for external registration feature
Users praised the event/trial registration functionality as more intuitive and seamless than competitor platforms

1. Success

2. User Insight Discovered

User Insight Discovered

Users didn’t immediately recognize that left-panel items were clickable to add to the form
Lacked clear visual affordances for click-to-add interactions

Future Improvement Opportunities

Enhanced Visual Cues:

Instead of arrow icon inside the box, consider more intuitive affordances to indicate click-to-add interaction.
Add a dedicated "+" button next to each item so users can add them individually, rather than relying on a checkbox-based bulk selection model, which causes confusion.

Enhanced Visual Cues:

Instead of arrow icon inside the box, consider more intuitive affordances to indicate click-to-add interaction.
Add a dedicated "+" button next to each item so users can add them individually, rather than relying on a checkbox-based bulk selection model, which causes confusion.

Onboarding Guidance:

Implement a brief tutorial or short guided walkthrough for first-time users, highlighting key interactions such as adding items from the left panel and distinguishing between buyer vs. participant fields.
This helps new users quickly understand the form-building workflow, reducing friction and preventing mistakes.

Onboarding Guidance:

Implement a brief tutorial or short guided walkthrough for first-time users, highlighting key interactions such as adding items from the left panel and distinguishing between buyer vs. participant fields.
This helps new users quickly understand the form-building workflow, reducing friction and preventing mistakes.