The Edge, a climbing sports gym in Riyadh, understood something most early-stage businesses don't: that brand and product consistency isn't a nice-to-have — it's the foundation that lets you scale.

Before opening, they wanted a design system rigorous enough to guide internal teams and external creators alike, rooted in genuine insight about the climbing community they were building for.

I was brought in to lead strategy and design from the ground up.

Rather than starting with aesthetics, I started with research. I worked with the leadership team to develop a structured discovery process — talking to climbers, observing community dynamics, and drawing out the values and behaviours that would shape the brand and product experience. That insight became the strategic foundation for everything that followed.