PixelSugar is an editing software targeted to pro photographers who want all the effects without all the effort. My challenge was to design a stand-alone application which offers non-destructive photo editing capabilities that would make professionals feel right at home, while also providing a welcoming experience for beginners

Role: Senior UI/UX Designer
Focus: PixelSugar – Photo Editing Web & Mobile App

Goal:

Lead the UI and UX design for PixelSugar, a lightweight creative tool designed for web and mobile. The focus was to create an editing experience that felt intuitive, highly functional, and aesthetically minimal, allowing the photography itself to take center stage. This involved developing a modular UI system, refining interaction models, and crafting a visual language that balanced luxury simplicity with creative flexibility.

Challenge:

The product needed to differentiate itself from heavyweight competitors like Adobe, offering a faster, more accessible editing tool without sacrificing creative power. Early prototypes suffered from unclear navigation and an overly technical feel, limiting accessibility for casual users while not fully serving advanced workflows.

Approach:

Reduced cognitive load by simplifying the interface into a “care-based” model rather than data-heavy dashboards.
Created a pet profile system that automatically adjusted feeding schedules based on weight, age, and activity—removing guesswork.
Integrated e-commerce directly into the app, allowing users to subscribe to food deliveries aligned with feeding schedules.
Designed micro-animations and UI motion that felt soft, reassuring, and non-intrusive.
Drew visual inspiration from Edweard Muybridge’s animal motion photography for loading animations, and from baby product aesthetics for UI icons to make it soft, friendly, and approachable.

Mapped the entire product journey through user flows and wireframes, beginning with the file browser navigation and extending into each editing feature.
Focused on reducing friction at every step to prioritize clarity, speed, and cognitive simplicity.
Developed a journey map that visualized the user’s path from file upload to export, ensuring editing tools were easy to discover and seamlessly integrated into the workspace.
Prototyped multiple interface models to validate ease of use for both novice and experienced editors.

Introduced Custom Recipes, a feature that allows users to create, save, and apply their own filter presets, supporting consistency across editing sessions.
Simplified access to core tools like exposure, contrast, and cropping into an adaptive side panel system.
With the owner and developers, an inline preview system was designed, enabling users to compare edits side-by-side without modal interruptions.

I was highly inspired by high-contrast, minimal black-and-white aesthetics, taking cues from fashion editorials, architecture, and designer kitchenware.
Moving away from the traditional dark-gray “editing room” look common in creative software.
Designed the interface to feel clean, modern, and gender-neutral in order to feel inviting to all user types while allowing the photograph to be the sole source of color and focus.

Built a UI that emphasized “invisible design”—the interface recedes to let the image dominate the workspace.
Used floating, semi-transparent tool panels anchored to consistent positions on the canvas—allowing instant access to editing features without covering the image.
The top navigation toolbar is hidden, creating maximum vertical space for photo editing.
Color exists only in the photo, the interface remains monochromatic to reinforce focus and reduce visual fatigue.

Designed micro-interactions that were tactile and responsive without drawing attention.
File selection was represented as an animated image slide carousel, offering a familiar, tactile metaphor.
Panel transitions, recipe saves, and adjustment sliders were enhanced with subtle easing and responsive motion—supporting usability while maintaining clarity.

Built a UI that emphasized “invisible design”—the interface recedes to let the image dominate the workspace.
Used floating, semi-transparent tool panels anchored to consistent positions on the canvas—allowing instant access to editing features without covering the image.
The top navigation toolbar is hidden, creating maximum vertical space for photo editing.
Color exists only in the photo, the interface remains monochromatic to reinforce focus and reduce visual fatigue.

A fully responsive photo editing tool that felt luxurious, clean, and effortless was created. Web and mobile-ready with a unified UI model and interaction logic.
The brand’s identity was reinforced as a creative, fast, and accessible alternative to bulky editing suites. This enables creators of any skill level to focus purely on their work. The app disappears while the image shines.

Pic Tap Go is the Mobile version of PixelSugar incorporating the new editing features from PixelSugar on the go.

Positive adoption among creators seeking simplicity without sacrificing quality.
The Custom Recipes feature became a core retention driver, giving users a reason to return for future edits.
Elevated brand perception by offering a distinct visual and UX alternative to conventional editing tools.
Streamlined development with a well-documented component library that scaled efficiently across releases.Key Contributions:
UI/UX Design: Led navigation architecture, layout models, and component hierarchies.
Brand & Visual Systems: Developed a monochrome UI style rooted in fashion and product design principles.
Interaction Design: Built a floating-panel system with persistent tools, eliminating modal interruptions.
Motion & Micro Interactions: Designed subtle, tactile animations that enhanced usability without clutter.
Feature Development: Created Custom Recipes functionality and simplified adjustment workflows.
Systems Thinking: Delivered a scalable component library adopted across the product roadmap.