Letro app

Project overview

Letro is an offline alternative to email, designed to circumvent internet shutdowns. Unlike email, Letro offers end-to-end encryption, eliminates phishing and spamming, and users can send and receive messages without access to the Internet.

Role

I led the UX/UI and brand design for Letro, including:

User research, competitive analysis, and usability testing.
Information architecture and user flows.
Wireframes, hi-fi prototypes, and design system.
Custom illustrations and animations.
Dev-ready documentation.
Close collaboration with the CEO and the lead developer to scope the MVP.

Learn more about Letro

Tools

Figma, FigmaJam, Maze, Illustrator, AE, Jira, Android Studio.

Timeline

2024

Team

UX/UI Designer, CEO and Developer

Problem statement

In many regions, frequent internet shutdowns limit the effectiveness of traditional messaging apps like Gmail or WhatsApp. Letro aimed to fill that gap: a secure, offline alternative that works reliably in such constrained environments.

Goals & objetives

The main goal was to design a messaging experience that not only works intuitively without the internet for people in regions with Internet restrictions, but also feels trustworthy and a delight to use.

Research

Due to the sensitive nature of the target audience, I conducted anonymous interviews and user testing with proxy users from targeted regions. This revealed crucial insights:

Users were familiar with apps such as Gmail and WhatsApp, but often misinterpreted common UI conventions.
Some users expressed significant skepticism toward offline messaging apps due to previous experiences with solutions that failed to work properly offline or had confusing and cluttered interfaces.
Many users relied on older Android devices with limited processing power.

Designing from first principles

Addressing technical dependency

Letro works through Awala technology, requiring users to have both apps installed. Working closely with the CEO and the lead developer, we designed an onboarding flow that automatically detects if Awala is installed.

This approach helped us educate users on the relationship between the twoapps without technical jargon, and reduce installation drop-off through contextual guidance.

Rethinking account creation

In close collaboration with our CEO and lead developer, we designed a simplified onboarding flow that eliminated traditional email/password requirements. Instead, users create accounts with just a username paired with a localised domain (e.g., @guayoyo.cafe in Venezuela). This collaborative approach allowed us to:

Creates immediate regional familiarity, making the app feel more personalised.
Reduces friction by removing email and password entry.
Maintains privacy through anonymised identifiers.

Designing for offline-first experiences

Every interaction needed to function reliably both online and offline, without depending on real-time feedback or server validation. I partnered with the team to understand the technical limits and together designed asynchronous syncing with clear UI states that:

Clearly indicate message status (sent/pending/delivered) without requiring connectivity.
Provide appropriate feedback during connectivity gaps.

Solving the contact pairing challenge

Unlike email's open sending model, Letro required a contact pairing system before communication. This posed a significant UX challenge, how to make this technical requirement intuitive without adding friction?

The solution: We developed a streamlined pairing flow that visually resembles "adding contacts" in messaging apps rather than email's addressing system, making an unfamiliar concept immediately understandable.

Clarity over convention

During the user testing, I found that some users are found icon-only actions (like the paper plane for "send" in Gmail) confusing.

Instead, Letro uses explicit text labels with supporting icons, such as a clearly labeled "Send" and "Reply" button, to reduce ambiguity.

Device constraints

Building Letro meant designing a communication experience from the ground up, without assuming users had fast internet or up-to-date hardware.

We ensured Letro could run reliably on older Android phones. This meant lightweight screens, minimal animations, and optimised assets, without compromising usability.

Accessibility & multilingual UX

Letro was localised into several languages, so I designed the UI to support variable-length text, right-to-left (RTL) layouts, and readable fonts across different scripts. I also ensured:

High color contrast for readability in harsh lighting.
Large tap targets for ease of use.
A dark theme to reduce eye strain.

Visual design

Letro's visual identity was designed to feel friendly, calm, and trustworthy, qualities often missing in apps associated with surveillance-heavy or politically tense contexts. I created a custom bird mascot to serve as a visual guide throughout the app, adding a layer of warmth and personality to an otherwise serious tool.

To support user comfort and extend accessibility, I also designed a fully-compatible dark theme. Both themes adhere to a consistent visual system: clear iconography, generous spacing, and scalable typography, all optimised for low-end Android devices.

Design system

To ensure platform-native usability and speed up development, I followed Material Design guidelines throughout the UI, aligning components and interaction patterns with Android standards.