Contributor brief experience optimization
END-TO-END BRIEFING EXPERIENCE REDESIGN
Case study
Coming soon
I co-led the end-to-end re-design of Getty Images and iStock’s briefing page, through discovery, research, experience requirements, and prototyping, providing more intuitive ways for users to find and track briefs.
TIMELINE
1.5 months
TOOL
Figma
ROLE
Product designer
ABOUT THE PRODUCT
The contributor brief page is the primary tool for supporting Getty Images’ and iStock’s goals of content differentiation, encouraging contributors to shoot for specific content needs. Briefed content is also the best performing content, generating significantly better conversion and higher revenue.
PROBLEM
Currently, the platform is not positioned for long term growth: key functionalities are breaking due to the lack of engineering oversight, and the platform is not connected to any analytics to provide user data. A re-design of the experience is proposed alongside engineering efforts to reduce friction on the platform.
GOALS
Goal #1: Evaluate and re-design the desktop platform to improve user experience, encouraging new and returning users to find, track, and shoot briefs effortlessly.
Goal #2: Balance speed of delivery and perfection to develop a scaled down proof of concept to validate the benefits and improvements of the new experience.
Research & discovery overview
To uncover key opportunity areas, I analyzed friction points in the user flow, reviewed recent survey insights, and conducted a competitive audit
Mapped the end-to-end user search journey using survey data to identify gaps and pain points, then translated those insights into actionable design opportunities.
Audited the briefing flows of six direct competitors and the user experiences of four content-driven platforms to uncover opportunities and define key differentiators.
Design overview
Below is a high-level overview of the redesign and newly introduced features. A case studying detailing the discovery and research process is available upon request.
Global navigation
Implemented a global navigation and search bar across all pages to help users navigate seamlessly and find content more efficiently.
Previous design
Homepage
Designed an information architecture on the homepage to deliver more relevant recommendation categories, tailored to diverse user profiles based on their skills and preferences.
Recommendations are personalized based on user preferences and behavior.
Designed quick actions on the thumbnail hover state, enabling users to refine their recommendations by rating briefs, and save those of interest.
Improved search and filter functionalities
Introduced a new search feature that lets users quickly save, or "pin", their most frequently used search terms and filter settings for quick access. Improved existing features and itegrated additional filter options to help users find relevant briefs efficiently.
"Pin search and filters" lets users save their preferred search term, sort, and filter combinations for quick and easy access.
The pinned search combinations are directly accessible from the search bar.
A search bar drop down is added to enable users to quickly access recently viewed briefs and search terms.
Previous experience
Designed the UI to relocate filters and sort options outside the filter panel for improved accessibility. Introduced a region-based filter to help user quickly exclude irrelevant briefs.
Brief detail page
The brief detail page presents comprehensive requirements for each brief. New features and UI enhancements are introduced to help users track briefs more efficiently and be better informed about the requirements.
Previous experience
Introduced new features that allow users to add briefs to their calendar and export briefs to PDF for easier off-site tracking. Reorganized the header UI to present key information more upfront for users.
Introduced recommendations for similar briefs to provide users with more options, encouraging them to create more diverse content and meet the business's goal of providing differentiated content.
Introduced the ability to include videos within a brief's visual examples, enhancing users' understanding of brief requirements.
Enabled video playback in gallery view, and enhanced the gallery UI for improved user experience.
Final design overview
IMPACT
This project successfully aligned stakeholders and cross-functional partners around a design solution, earning strong support for its potential impact. In particular, the Creative Content team was especially enthusiastic about its potential to enhance content discoverability and usability. While it was ultimately deprioritized before conducting user research and implementation, the work remains a foundation for future opportunities.
REFLECTION
This project was a valuable opportunity to strengthen my critical thinking and problem-solving skills, particularly in identifying product improvement opportunities through research and evaluation, and navigating ambiguity without analytics data. The experience of driving stakeholder conversations also refined my ability to align teams and advocate for thoughtful solutions. While my collaborator and I explored several strong design directions, further user research would have provided deeper validation of our approach.