Designing for a brand-new market is hard. Designing for one that's legally ambiguous, socially stigmatized, and poorly served by existing digital products is harder. That's exactly the challenge La Conecta set out to solve.

Following the Mexican Supreme Court's decriminalization of recreational cannabis, a real but fragmented market began to emerge — consumers with genuine needs, local sellers with products to offer, and no reliable way for either to find each other. La Conecta is a mobile platform designed to bridge that gap: connecting Mexican consumers with local dispensaries, providing strain and product education, and enabling safe, informed purchasing in an evolving legal landscape.

I led the UX from initial research through high-fidelity prototype — designing not just for usability, but for trust in an industry where trust is everything.

Goal

Design a user-centred mobile app that fosters responsible cannabis use, facilitates product discovery and purchase from local dispensaries, and positions La Conecta as the leading platform in the emerging Mexican market.

Target Audience

Cannabis consumers and sellers in Mexico, aged 18–45 — ranging from first-time users seeking medical relief to experienced enthusiasts and independent dispensary operators.

My Role

Lead UX Designer, end-to-end. User research, information architecture, wireframing (low and high fidelity), prototyping, iterative design, and responsive design across devices.

The Problem

Three interconnected challenges made this a genuinely difficult design problem — not just a visual one:

• Stigma and misinformation. In a market shaped by decades of prohibition, many users approach cannabis with anxiety, confusion, or both. The design had to educate without condescending, and build trust without overpromising — in an industry that has earned skepticism.

• A broken sales ecosystem. Suppliers, independent sellers, and delivery services operated in silos. Communication was fragmented, handoffs were manual, and buyers had no reliable way to verify what they were getting or from whom.

• An e-commerce experience that had to work harder than most. This wasn't just a product catalogue — it needed to help users navigate a complex product landscape (strains, effects, formats, regional availability) and complete a purchase with confidence, even if they'd never done it before.

Research

Understanding this market required getting past assumptions. Initial desk research confirmed that while Mexico decriminalized recreational use in 2021, regulations around production and commercial sale are still evolving — creating an environment where the platform needed to be both commercially useful and legally responsible.

User interviews surfaced what the legal context alone couldn't: the emotional dimension of the market. Users weren't just looking for a product catalogue. They wanted education, they wanted transparency, and they wanted to feel safe making a decision.

Personas

Ivana

• Age: 24
• Education: Bachelor of Social Science
• Hometown: Tijuana, Mexico
• Occupation: Student
  

Ivana uses cannabis to manage migraines when traditional painkillers fail her. She needs clear, credible product information and a purchase flow that doesn't feel sketchy — because her use is medical, not recreational, and she wants it treated that way.

José

• Age: 42
• Education: High School
• Hometown: Tijuana, Mexico
• Occupation: Dispensary Owner
  

José has a product and a customer base, but no effective digital presence. He needs a platform that helps him reach buyers who don't already know he exists — and builds enough trust that first-time customers come back.

Starting the design

This phase focused on translating the insights gathered from user research and the defined user needs into tangible design concepts. The process involved a rapid exploration of ideas and the development of initial structural frameworks:

Ideation, Sketching & Wireframing

Refining the design

This stage involved a critical evaluation of the existing app and the initial wireframes, focusing on applying design principles, incorporating accessibility guidelines, and addressing user feedback to create a more intuitive and effective user experience. The following key areas underwent significant refinement:

The 'La Conecta' logo was redesigned to better align with the brand identity. The login/signup flow was also updated to adhere to accessibility standards and platform-specific UI guidelines for each social media integration.

The redesigned signup confirmation layout prioritizes clarity and functionality, addressing previous shortcomings in visual hierarchy and Gestalt principles to ensure a seamless user transition.

The 'Home' layout underwent the most significant iteration, requiring careful consideration of design principles, accessibility guidelines, and valuable feedback from potential users to create an engaging and informative entry point.

The 'Products' layout was enhanced to improve product discoverability, incorporating design principles that emphasize variety and relevance based on the user's region.

The 'Strains' layouts were refined with the integration of a filtering mechanism and consistent application of the app's established style patterns to improve search efficiency and visual coherence.

Key Mockups

This section showcases key screens from the high-fidelity prototype, illustrating the intended user experience and the application of the design principles established throughout the project.

The following mockups highlight core user journeys and key features:

High-fidelity prototype

Explore the interactive high-fidelity prototype to experience the intended user flow:
La Conecta Hi-Fi Prototype.

Style Guides

Going forward

Business Impact

Early feedback validated the core design hypothesis: that the right information, presented clearly, builds the trust that converts a curious browser into a confident buyer.

One potential user put it directly: "I love how the app manages a lot of information in a brief, concise way… Thank you for all the research and thoughtfulness you've put into this redesign."

For a market where trust is the primary barrier to adoption, that's the outcome that matters most.

Next Steps

1) Explore cryptocurrency payment integration to serve users who prefer anonymous transactions in a market where privacy concerns are legitimate.

2) Expand research beyond Tijuana to validate pain points across Mexico's diverse regional markets before national launch.

3) Investigate alternative sales channel models — including social commerce — as the regulatory landscape matures and new distribution models become viable.

LinkedIn  |  edith@edithmoreno.com

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