studio w labs
Hand your product to someone who's never used it. They freeze. They hunt around for where to start. Then they quietly stop coming back, and your dashboard files it under churn. I'm a learning scientist, so I can tell you exactly why they got stuck, and I read the code, so I can help you build the fix into the product itself, instead of into a help doc nobody opens.
When a new user can't tell what to do first, they don't file a support ticket. They leave, and they don't come back. I'm trained in how people actually learn, so I can tell you where your product overwhelms them, where it buries the one thing they came to do, and where it locks out someone on a screen reader or a keyboard. Then I help you rebuild those moments so the product does the teaching, and your support team stops answering the same question forever.
Put someone new in front of your product and count how long before they do anything. Usually they freeze. Nine things are competing for their attention and nothing signals which one matters, so they hunt, they guess, and a good number of them just close the tab. That quiet moment is where your activation number actually dies, weeks before anyone fills out a churn survey.
One platform I worked on built the instructions into the product itself, so people stopped asking where the documentation was. It was a hard sell at first, because everyone expects a manual. It became the thing users loved most, and it lifted a standing weight off a support team that was drowning. The teaching lived in the product, where it belonged, instead of in a PDF going stale in a folder.
The hardest and most useful thing I do is get a screen down to a single obvious next step. Teams resist it, because everything feels important and cutting hurts. One clear call to action beats six every time, because a person can only act on what they can find. Deciding what that one thing is takes knowing how attention actually works. Moving buttons around is the easy part anyone can do.
A product can pass every usability test in the building and still shut people out, someone on a screen reader, someone using only a keyboard, someone whose working memory the interface quietly overloads. I check your product against WCAG and against COGA, the cognitive-accessibility guidelines most teams don't know exist, because the same choices that let those users in make the product clearer for everyone. Accessibility done right is a retention feature wearing a compliance costume.
The through-line is the same every time. People leave products that make them feel lost, and they stay with products that make them feel capable. I find the exact spots where yours does the first thing, and where it makes sense I build the fixes in myself instead of handing you a to-do list. When it grows into a full build, I bring in Understory, my studio for exactly that.
Tell me where the product feels stuck, or just point me at your activation and churn numbers. If it's not something I can move, I'll say so on the call, before you've paid for anything.
I put real people in front of your product and read the code underneath, so I catch the exact moments people give up, and why. Usually a couple of weeks, not the months a new hire needs to spin up.
A short plan in plain words, ranked by what each problem is costing you. Where it makes sense, I build the fixes into the product myself, so you get a better product and not a longer to-do list.
The apps I make on my own time. Before I go judging anyone else's product, it seems only fair that you can poke at mine.
iOS
Track your dog's training journey. Log behavioral issues, monitor progress, and work with your trainer, all in one place.
iOS
Video blurbs for the people you love. A vlrb is a quick video message for the moments a text can't capture.
Web
A lesson planning tool that grows the teacher while they plan. The professional development is built into the workflow itself, and every lesson aligns to Nevada's Portrait of a Learner and its durable skills.
Essays on building, leading, and doing the work well, published on Substack.
I'm a PhD candidate, and my dissertation research lives on its own site.
The instructional design and learning consultancy I run with Mike Lang.
Tell me where your product feels stuck, or just hand me your activation and churn numbers. You'll walk away knowing where people are giving up, why they're giving up, and what it's worth to fix. A flat activation curve, a support queue full of the same question, or a launch you want people to actually stick with are all good reasons to start.
You can also reach me directly at webs@studiowlabs.com.
