all cases

ULTIMARII

From 0 to 15 clients: Driving product discovery and UX in AI for regulatory work

PRODUCT DISCOVERY

PRODUCT STRATEGY

AI UX

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

LLM DESIGN

REGULATORY PROFESSIONALS SPEND hundreds of hours manually reviewing legal and compliance-heavy documents. A process prone to inefficiencies and human error. Ultimarii set out to build an AI-powered research platform that could:

Centralize large document repositories, making structured and unstructured data instantly searchable

Leverage AI-driven summarization to extract key insights in minutes instead of hours

Enable users to refine queries and interpret AI-generated insights while maintaining transparency and accuracy

The challenge wasn’t just designing a research tool. It was also about defining how users interact with an LLM (Large Language Model) in a high-stakes regulatory setting where every insight needed to be verifiable.

My work spanned:

Sprint 1: Defining the product concept through a storyboard, outlining core functionality such as AI-driven search, document summarization, and user workflows.

Sprint 2: Translating discovery insights into product design, refining the experience based on real-world emerging user needs and nascent industry requirements.

Sprint 3: Refining the UX and UI for MVP launch, problem-solving nesting navigation, cross-project and branching conversations, and simplifying and forecasting for complex and as yet unknown use cases typical in the LLM space.

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Go here to access the full case study.

Password protection is enabled for confidentiality. If you’d like access, feel free to reach out to me directly on LinkedIn.

tl;dr

THE PROBLEM

Regulatory professionals struggle with navigating dense, compliance-heavy documents. Existing research workflows were time-consuming, fragmented, and highly manual.

Ultimarii aimed to develop an AI-powered system that could centralize data, speed up research, and provide AI-assisted insights with source traceability.

MY APPROACH

Led product discovery and UX research to define key user needs and interactions with AI

Mapped out emerging LLM user behaviors, refining AI-assisted search and document analysis workflows

Designed a scalable information architecture and UI framework to support AI-driven regulatory research

THE RESULT

Helped Ultimarii secure 15 enterprise clients within its first year

Delivered an intuitive experience for handling complex document workflows

Established a UX/UI foundation that accelerated product development and scalability

High fidelity interface design of the landing page of the web platform from Sprint 2. Actual MVP interface is currently available under early access only.

01

Why now

Professionals and large organizations working with compliance-heavy documents spend significant time and resources manually searching, reviewing, and analyzing dense regulatory and legal text.

The challenge was to build an AI-powered system that could:

Centralize large document repositories, making structured and unstructured data instantly searchable

Leverage AI-driven summarization to extract key insights in minutes instead of hours

Enable users to refine queries and interpret AI-generated insights while maintaining transparency and accuracy

Unlike conventional AI research tools, this system had to function at enterprise scale, handling multiple sources of regulatory data with a strong focus on accuracy and traceability.

🗝️

Go here to access the full case study.

Password protection is enabled for confidentiality. If you’d like access, feel free to reach out to me directly on LinkedIn.

02

Where we are now

Through continuous iteration and prototype testing, the AI-powered research system evolved into a functional, enterprise-ready minimum viable product (MVP). By the end of the sprint cycle, the production team now have a clear blueprint to further refine the MVP. This sprint cycle helped accomplish the following:

A fully defined AI-powered research system, validated through early user testing

A scalable UX/UI framework that supports AI-driven search, summarization, and document review

With these improvements, professionals could quickly retrieve insights from thousands of documents, generate structured reports with AI assistance, and streamline workflows that previously took years into a matter of weeks.

WHAT MY COLLEAGUES SAY

Trace is incredibly dedicated and often goes above and beyond to make deliverables or create the best product. She is a very strong leader and has immense skill in leading client workshops, especially in the UX and CDR space.

03

Impact on Ultimarii's growth

Ultimarii launched its AI-powered platform with 15 enterprise clients, including major energy and utility companies, within its first year. The UX work directly contributed to:

Increased adoption - Clients found the interface approachable and easy to integrate into existing workflows

Faster research cycles - Professionals could now retrieve insights in minutes instead of days

Securing $2M in funding, with a strategic round planned for 2025

Beyond regulatory research, Ultimarii is now expanding into site selection, hearing preparation, and workflow automation, using the same UX/UI foundation developed in the early sprint cycles

🗝️

Go here to access the full case study.

Password protection is enabled for confidentiality. If you’d like access, feel free to reach out to me directly on LinkedIn.

04

What I learned

When I first started working with Ultimarii, I didn’t fully grasp the scale of its ambition. What started as a UX challenge quickly became a systems thinking problem—how do you create an AI-powered interface that not only processes vast amounts of data but also makes that intelligence accessible and actionable for users?

AI UX is still an emerging field - We had to define user interactions with an LLM without established best practices

Trust in AI is a design problem - Users needed confidence that AI-generated insights were accurate and transparent

Strong UX strategy can shift product direction - By deeply understanding user needs, we influenced how the AI system itself was structured

Initially, there was skepticism about whether UX could meaningfully impact Ultimarii’s AI development. By the end of the sprint cycles, the production team relied on our UX frameworks as a core part of their process.


This project reinforced my passion for solving complex design challenges, particularly in AI-driven products. Seeing how the work helped shape a tool that is actively changing how regulatory research is done at scale was an incredible validation of UX’s role in AI innovation.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

Ultimarii is now positioned as a leader in AI-driven regulatory research, and the work done in these sprint cycles laid the foundation for its continued growth.

🗝️

Go here to access the full case study.

Password protection is enabled for confidentiality. If you’d like access, feel free to reach out to me directly on LinkedIn.

SHOUTOUTS TO—

Chantelle Little - For trusting me with the opportunity to fly solo on the initial sprint, keep the momentum going and in building a great collaborative partnership with the Ultimarii team.

Josh Malate and Doug Schweitzer - For the easy collaboration, the free flowing whiteboarding sessions, for sharing knowledge about regulatory work and for the trust to get Ultimarii into MVP

Duane Wood and team - Also for the trust! Eventually. I kid. :p Truly thankful for the wonderful collaboration, the deep conversations unpacking the complexity of the design challenges, the grace and patience as we evolved the product into what it is today.

WHAT MY COLLEAGUES SAY

Trace's greatest strength is her ability to handle moving pieces within the project.

With my short collaboration with her in one of the projects in the past, there was some inconsistency with what we usually do versus what she has done. She effectively adapted to what we're doing and understood where the devs are coming from!

It was greatly appreciated. I found that not only is she a big advocate for the design team but also for devs in terms of improvement and just making sure things are delivered on time and the handoff is complete.

WHAT MY COLLEAGUES SAY

Trace's greatest strength is her ability to handle moving pieces within the project.

With my short collaboration with her in one of the projects in the past, there was some inconsistency with what we usually do versus what she has done. She effectively adapted to what we're doing and understood where the devs are coming from!

It was greatly appreciated. I found that not only is she a big advocate for the design team but also for devs in terms of improvement and just making sure things are delivered on time and the handoff is complete.

For clarity and consistency, Trace is used in place of Patricia in the testimonials. Both refer to me. :)

This website is designed and built from scratch by Trace Orozco. All rights reserved.
© Copyright 2025 Trace Orozco

trace orozco

For clarity and consistency, Trace is used in place of Patricia in the testimonials. Both refer to me. :)

This website is designed and built from scratch by Trace Orozco. All rights reserved.
© Copyright 2025 Trace Orozco

trace orozco

For clarity and consistency, Trace is used in place of Patricia in the testimonials. Both refer to me. :)

This website is designed and built from scratch by Trace Orozco. All rights reserved.
© Copyright 2025 Trace Orozco

trace

orozco