Michael McGillivray
All work

Klir

Klir - Flagship App

A B2B flagship platform for the water industry, taken from conception to launch, with me leading design and styling the front end myself.

Klir product design case study hero image
  • Concept → Launch Owned the full lifecycle
  • Front-End Styled in CSS & LESS
  • Many Tools → 1 Consolidated third-party products

The Brief

Context

Klir, an Irish startup, set out to build a B2B flagship platform for the global water-processing industry. I led the design and UI development initiative from conception to launch.

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Responsibilities

  • Lead product design from conception to launch.
  • Standardise messy, fragmented water-industry workflows.
  • Replace a stack of disconnected third-party tools.

Water-processing teams were stitching their work together across multiple third-party products that didn't talk to each other. Klir's opportunity was to consolidate all of that into one coherent platform, and as lead designer, my job was to make that consolidation feel simple, not just possible.

Discovery

Standardised workflow

I worked closely with the COO to define product strategy, and produced a standardised workflow for the global water-processing industry that consolidated functions previously spread across several tools.

  • Partnered with the COO on product strategy and priorities.
  • Standardised a fragmented industry workflow.
  • Consolidated multiple third-party product functions into one.
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The core insight was that the industry didn't need another point tool; it needed one place where the whole workflow lived. Defining that standardised workflow, with the COO, became the spine the rest of the product hung off.

My Dashboard screen, showing task status, activity, tasks closed this week and this month, and a task timeline chart for the year
A selection of screens from the Klir platform. Scroll each screen, or use the arrows to move between them.

Structure

IA & user flows

Structuring the platform around new user flows, I turned complex multi-step processes so users could level-up their workflow efficiency.

  • Designed the IA around the standardised workflow.
  • Turned scattered tasks into one coherent journey.

Validation

Usability testing

I used usability testing to keep the platform grounded in how water- industry teams actually work, refining the experience as it took shape.

  • Ran usability testing through the design process.
  • Refined flows against real user behaviour.

Build

Styling the front end myself

I also acted as lead UI developer, helping build the front end with hands-on styling in CSS and LESS, which reduced early-stage engineering costs for the startup.

  • Implemented front-end styling in CSS and LESS.
  • Bridged design and engineering directly.
  • Reduced early-stage engineering costs.
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Being able to take the design into code myself meant fewer hand-off gaps and a faster path from Figma to a real, styled interface. For an early startup watching every euro, being able to design and develop was a genuine multiplier.

Impact

Outcome

Klir's flagship B2B platform shipped, a single, standardised home for a workflow that had been scattered across disconnected tools.

  • A flagship platform delivered from conception to launch.
  • A standardised workflow for the global water industry.
  • Reduced reliance on multiple non-communicating products.