A virtual office for hybrid teams that never lose the room
Swivel was a startup focused on improving communication for hybrid and remote teams. As distributed work became common, teams struggled with visibility, spontaneous interaction, and a sense of connection. The product recreated a virtual office environment where teams could see each other, communicate, and collaborate more naturally.
Most remote tools rely on scheduled communication.
Most remote tools rely on scheduled communication, leaving little room for spontaneous interaction. Teams needed a clearer way to see who was available, understand ongoing conversations, and connect without constant meetings or messaging.
Teams couldn’t easily see who was around, in a meeting, or heads-down and focused.
Every interaction required a deliberate scheduling step, killing the casual, drop-in conversations that happen naturally in a physical office.
Without shared physical space, teams lost the social context that keeps distributed work feeling human.
Communication happened almost entirely through scheduled meetings and async messages — no ambient sense of who was around or what was happening.
A spatial virtual office where presence, availability, and ongoing conversations are visible at a glance, with lightweight personal context restoring the social dimension of a physical workplace.
Designing for presence, not just messaging
As Product and UX/UI designer, the work centered on translating the social logic of a physical office — who’s around, who’s in a conversation, who’s heads-down — into a spatial digital interface that felt intuitive rather than gimmicky, while staying genuinely productive for daily work.
Designed the virtual floor plan concept representing teams and workspaces. Structured spatial navigation and presence indicators.
Created interaction patterns for joining meetings and conversations, and profile elements allowing users to express personal context.
Integrated external tools such as Zoom into the workspace flow, so the spatial layer stayed the entry point for real conversations.
Spatial office visualization
A visual floor plan represents teams and workspace areas, letting users understand org structure and see where conversations are happening in real time — the same wayfinding logic that makes a physical office legible, translated to screen.
Presence-based communication
Visible presence within the workspace lets team members see who’s in conversation, available, focused, or in an active room — restoring the awareness typical of physical offices, without anyone having to announce their status manually.
Seamless meeting entry
Lightweight personal context — calendar availability, music preferences, personal images, shared files — helps rebuild the social dimension often lost in remote work, and makes joining a room feel like walking up to a desk rather than dialing into a call.
Seamless meeting entry
An active video call, live schedule widgets, and a personal profile card with shared photos — the lightweight context that makes joining a room feel like walking up to a desk.
Spatial office visualization
A floor-by-floor breakdown of the campus — people count, team assignments, and meeting-room availability at a glance, the same wayfinding logic as a physical office.
Interaction patterns for a spatial product
The interface needed to feel intuitive and socially engaging while still productive — three decisions carried most of that weight.
A visual floor plan represents teams and workspace areas, letting users see where conversations are happening in real time.
Visible presence lets team members see who’s in conversation, available, focused, or in an active room.
Lightweight personal context (calendar, music, images, files) rebuilds the social dimension often lost in remote work.
Zoom and other conferencing tools plug directly into the spatial workspace flow, so the office layer stays the single entry point.
A new approach to remote collaboration
Combining spatial visualization with everyday collaboration tools gave teams a genuine sense of place.
Presence awareness let teams navigate conversations more organically, without over-scheduling.
Integrated communication tools helped distributed teams reconnect socially, not just operationally.
