Fairwalter
Fairwalter is a Swiss-based, cloud-based real estate management platform designed for landlords, property managers, and public sector entities. It offers a comprehensive suite of tools to streamline property management tasks, including rent collection, lease tracking, maintenance coordination, and financial reporting.
Challenges
- No centralized design system
- Complex user flows (property, contract, financial features)
- Rising number of customer support tickets around core workflows
- Opportunity to create additional value through new features
Design System: Building from Scratch
To ensure consistency and scale, I created the Fairwalter Design System from the ground up.
Deliverables
- Design tokens: colors, spacing, typography, grids
- Core components: buttons, tables, modals, forms
- Figma library (documented and versioned)
- Documentation site for team guidelines
Impact
- Reduced design-to-development handoff time by 30%
- Cut UI inconsistencies by 90%
- Enabled faster prototyping and onboarding
Redesigning Core Features
Property, Building, and Rental Object Creation
Before: Long multi-tabbed forms, low completion rates, frequent errors
After: Progressive disclosure, grouped logic by user intent
Contract Creation, Adjustment, Termination
Before: Confusing terms, hidden CTAs, no feedback
After: Stepper UI, inline validations, real-time document preview
Ancillary Expense Process
Before: Spreadsheet-like layout, unclear responsibilities
After: Visual grouping, tags, logic hints
Creditors Process
- Introduced batch actions and clearer statuses
- Smart filters and search added
Document Management System
- Added preview, metadata, drag & drop
- Permission-based document views
Designing New Features
Mortgages
Dashboard with interest tracking, maturity dates, and alerts for better financial planning.
Dunning (Debt Collection)
Full timeline of reminders, escalation steps, and improved visibility.
Nameplate Feature (New Revenue Stream)
Online ordering system using tenant data for personalized building nameplates.
Revenue: 500 CHF in the first 3 months.
Results
- Increased NPS by 12 points
- Greatly reduced design debt
- Faster feature development due to reusable components
- Smoother onboarding for new and complex features
What I Learned
- How to scale a design system during product growth