Overview:

As the Director of Product Design at Storyboard, an enterprise podcasting platform, I spearheaded a transformative project to democratize private podcasting, ensuring its accessibility to all users. This initiative involved orchestrating a talented design team to elevate the user experience for an innovative private podcasting platform. We rebuilt the entire app.

Goals:

Inclusivity: Make private podcasting available and user-friendly for every individual and organization using Storyboard's platform by focusing on the onboarding experience.

Seamless sign-up: Ensure a smooth sign-up and log in for the private podcasting features within the existing app infrastructure without disrupting the user experience.

Enhanced User Experience: Elevate the overall user experience by providing intuitive tools for creating, sharing, and accessing private podcasts.

Scalability and Customization: Design a flexible framework capable of scaling private podcasting features to meet the diverse needs of enterprise-level users.

Before:

Before Website

Before Mobile App

Challenges

Changing engineering ownership: As we re-designed the app we changed engineering teams, which enabled us technologically but also required us to onboard our engineers to the philosophy of the product.

Incremental product implementation: With a small engineering team, we could only phase the desktop and app features. We rebuilt the desktop application before the app.

Leadership

I managed and mentored a team of designers. Strategically, I focused each team member in areas of concentration we needed focus, while we had weekly collaboration meetings for education and cross-pollination. Our team was also able to offer funding to our design team members to learn animation and other skill-sets that were important to their growth, and the growth of skills the company needed. The domains the team focused on were Marketing Assets, Product Design, and User Research.

Each design project focused on optimizing an end-to-end experience while positively impacting the KPIs of the entire product experience.

Process:

Research and Insights Gathering: Conducted extensive user research, engaging with individual users and enterprise clients to understand their needs, pain points, and expectations concerning private podcasting. Analyzed market trends and competitor offerings to identify opportunities and gaps. Here is the user flow we wanted to improve upon:

Strategic Roadmap and Planning: Formulated a strategic roadmap aligned with Storyboard's vision, outlining the phased integration of private podcasting features. Collaborated with cross-functional teams to ensure alignment with technical capabilities and business goals.

Design Sprint and Prototyping: Orchestrated design sprints to ideate, prototype, and iterate on features that seamlessly integrated private podcasting within our customer’s workflows. Employed rapid prototyping and user testing to validate and refine designs iteratively.

Collaborative Development and Implementation: Worked closely with engineering, product management, and other stakeholders to translate designs into a functional implementation. Ensured a coherent and streamlined integration of private podcasting while maintaining app performance and security standards.

Documentation and Education: Created comprehensive documentation, including guidelines, FAQs, and interactive tutorials, to educate users on leveraging private podcasting capabilities. Conducted training sessions for both end-users and enterprise clients to facilitate adoption.

Monitoring and Iterative Improvement: Established metrics for tracking user engagement, feedback, and app performance post-implementation. Continuously gathered insights to identify areas for further enhancement and optimization of private podcasting functionalities.

Mobile app

Website Help Center

Desktop Admin Dashboard

Outcomes:

Accessible Private Podcasting: Making private podcasting accessible and available to grow our platform.

Seamless Integration: Ensured a smooth and intuitive user experience by seamlessly embedding private podcasting functionalities into company cultures.

Enhanced User Engagement: Elevated user engagement metrics and satisfaction through the availability of private podcasting tools.

Scalability and Customization: Developed a flexible framework capable of scaling private podcasting for individual users and addressing the diverse needs of enterprise clients.

SEE PROTOTYPE

Key Takeaways:

User-centric research and iterative design are pivotal for creating seamless integrations within an existing app ecosystem.

Collaborative cross-functional efforts and clear communication are essential for successful implementation and adoption of new functionalities.

Continuous monitoring and iterative improvements ensure sustained user satisfaction and product growth.