G LETORNEY | CASE STUDY
Visura Mobile:
A mobile portfolio creator
for visual storytellers
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Overview: The following is a case study that explores my experience working with the Visura Mobile Lab from 2019 to 2021.
The product
Visura is a start-up focused on driving exposure to the world's best freelance visual storytellers. This is a claim that we earnestly believe in.The platform is structured like a professional networking platform. The idea is to create a best-in-class portfolio builder and a match-making service to connect professional Photo Editors and Creative Directors with talented storytellers.
My role
As Principal of the Mobile Lab from September 2019 to March 2021, I led a small team to develop a net-new mobile app in React Native for both the App Store and Play Store. My role was balanced between Principal Product Designer and Design & Engineering Manager.I owned
- Delivery of aesthetic and functional innovation to meet business goals
- Growth KPIs of 50% increase in Editor-Story views in 6 months
- UI Component design
- User research & validation
Personal preparation
- I learned React Native.
- I learned to publish apps with XCode and Android Studio.
ONE
Business conditions
Visura's web application launched in late 2015. In early 2019 business leadership identified a mobile app as their next priority to drive engagement. I joined the newly formed Mobile Lab to help realize this vision.We defined success as a 50% increase in Editor-Story views in 6 months post-launch. This metric occurs when a professional photo editor views a story shared by one of our members. We considered this an upstream metric, with photographer retention and editor sign-ups as downstream success metrics.
We faced a lot of the typical constraints of a small team. The upside was that I was able to be very hands-on with research and even contributed a fair amount of code to the project.
TWO
Design solutions
First, we asked and we listened. I lead qual research in the form of short interviews with 32 power users. I designed the research and analyzed the results with our data analyst.18 Editors:
I asked questions like
1. Most used App for visual research?
- Instagram. EyeEm. Ello.
2. Three things you'd want from a Visura App?
- Deep context. Tools to save and organize. Curated feeds.
3. One thing that you'd never want to see?
- Work that was unverified to standards of journalism or art.
14 Photographers:
I asked questions like
1. Most used App for sharing?
- Instagram. EyeEm.
2. Three things you'd want from a Visura App?
- Ability to create dynamic layouts.
3. One thing that you'd never want to see?
- Other users who could take copyrighted material.
User focused & iterative
Being a small team, I knew we needed to get the "big things" right within a narrow focus. I focused on:— Providing deep context to editors.
— Creating a tool that was both easy and adjustable.
— Regularly sharing with users.
— Always evaluate Viability & Feasibility.
Cross-functional colab
I worked closely with our business leadership and engineering team to set up a quick feedback cycle.We ran into some communication problems. Engineering became a bit siloed and felt left out of the loop. I created a 2x week round table to get everyone in the room to share progress and for open ideation while not disrupting our decision-making cadence.
THREE
Rapid prototyping
I sought out fast feedback from stakeholders and users. I regularly prototyped designs in the form of static mobile web pages. I then introduce the designs in a screen-sharing session for controlled feedback.
Select layout & upload flow
FOUR
Results & Next Steps
In total, we spent 5 months in design and development and 4 weeks iterating on early beta versions of the app. Good Results:
- The App quickly got a straight 5-star rating!
- Editor engagement did jump up! We saw a 20% lift in editor engagement 3 months post-launch and a 40% lift in editor engagement 6 months post-launch.
- 6-months post-launch 80% of our active users had DL'd the app and 1 in 6 stories were built using the app.
- Editors created 125 lightboxes of saved work in the first 60 days post-launch.
Needs Improvement:
- Well, our goal was to achieve a 50% lift in editor engagement 6 months out, and we did miss that. But we finished the year at over 100% growth on this metric!
- Although we built the app in React Native - the Android app still has some issues we're working through. That has been an ongoing challenge!
Next steps:
- Continue to develop upgrade paths via the app.
- Continue to iterate with feedback from photo editors and creative directors to drive engagement.
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