Launch a new entry-level digital media management platform
Imagen
Imagen helps global brands, sports organisations and media companies manage their content libraries through a highly-customisable digital asset management platform. To unlock new revenue streams and reach a wider market, Imagen wanted to launch an accessible entry-level product that reused the technology and features behind their established Pro platform.
- RoleLead Product Designer
- IndustryDigital Asset Management
- TeamVP, CTO, Development, cross-functional workshop groups
- TimelineJune 2020 - April 2021
The challenge
As Lead Product Designer, I led research and design for the new product from initial market opportunity through to hi-fidelity prototypes ready for development, working closely with Imagen's VP, CTO and senior stakeholders to align on a single product vision, and with marketing and development teams throughout.
Internal stakeholder interviews surfaced conflicting visions for what the product should be, while external interviews with digital and marketing managers made it clear that any new entry-level tool would need to be dramatically simpler than the heavily customised Pro platform - and easy enough to adopt without the in-house support team that Pro customers relied on.
Designing Imagen Go
Consolidate the product vision
The challenge
After interviewing internal stakeholders it was clear there were multiple, conflicting visions for the same product. Without a shared view of who it was for, teams risked pulling in different directions before design work had even started.
The solution
I ran online workshops with a wide cross-section of Imagen's team, opening with empathy maps built from my earlier research to shift the focus onto the end user. Imagen stakeholders were placed into multi-disciplinary teams and asked to write position statements defining the product, its audience, and how it differed from existing alternatives, before mapping their own empathy maps against a specific user journey and proposing features to support each stage. The workshop closed with a single, revised position statement that reflected the group's shared thinking.
The workshop-built empathy maps and position statements that aligned the team
Provide a streamlined experience
The challenge
The Pro platform was heavily supported by product specialists, with custom features bolted on for individual customers. To succeed, the entry-level product would need to be significantly simpler and usable without the in-house support team Pro customers relied on.
The solution
Using a visual user experience map built during the workshops, groups suggested only the key feature sets justified by user need and development capacity. The different groups then reconvened to prioritise the combined list using impact-versus-effort grids and MoSCoW, producing a final, lightweight feature set for the new product.
Experience maps and MoSCoW used to help define product requirements
Support first-time use through onboarding
The challenge
Interviewing potential users confirmed that a new digital product would need to fit seamlessly into the adopter's existing digital landscape and provide a frictionless first experience, or risk being abandoned immediately after sign-up.
The solution
To foster early adoption, the product was given an open API for eventual integration through Zapier, alongside a demo project pre-loaded on the dashboard so users could experiment with features straight away. An interactive click-through guide coached new users step by step into uploading their first digital asset.
Onboarding across the application
Simplify the interface for self-serve use
The challenge
Unlike Pro, which leaned on an in-house support team to guide clients through complex workflows, the new product needed to be completely intuitive. The interface had to be task-led and significantly simpler than Pro - surfacing key user actions rather than exposing Pro's full breadth of features. Imagen's front-end development team had historically owned the design too, so simplifying the interface this much would certainly generate resistance.
The solution
The dashboard was stripped back to a simpler graphical interface focused solely on creating and modifying projects. Record management carried over Pro's enhanced AI tagging and commenting capabilities to make the platform more collaborative. However, these complex features were presented contextually in order to minimise visual noise and maintain focus on the media itself. High-fidelity prototypes and senior stakeholder sign-off locked the final designs before development started, and a Figma component library gave the team a shared system to build from rather than negotiating each decision individually.
A stripped-back dashboard, carrying over Pro's AI tagging and commenting features
Results
The product launched successfully in the first quarter of 2021 despite the pandemic and gained early traction. A significant outcome from the launch saw Pro clients wanting to see the UI improvements folded back into their own platform. By launching the entry-level product, Imagen grew its addressable market and created a clear upgrade path into the Pro offering. The company has since been acquired by Thomson Reuters.
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Launched successfully in Q1 2021
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Design improvements flowed back into Pro -
Created a genuine upgrade path
What I learned
Managing Internal Stakeholders
Facilitating a large, remote group of internal stakeholders was difficult. Some pushed back on a leaner product vision, others arrived with completely different ideas which were more 'internally' focussed. Interviewing people individually and gathering requirements first meant that all views were considered and valued. The support from the VP was crucial, aligning stakeholders and preempting issues between online Miro workshops allowed me to focus on gathering requirements and creating a shared direction for the business.
Why not drop me a line?
If you have an upcoming project and need help, I'd love to be involved! Just get in touch and let's get started.
