Stills, a photo and image licensing platform had a goal of building a system that serves designers/companies/brands and connect them to contributors with efficiency and clarity. As the Director of Product Design at FM, my role involved leading the project through its various stages, from initial research to final implementation, with a strong emphasis on practicality and user engagement.
The project kicked off with a semi-in-depth research phase. We conducted interviews, surveyed individuals, and analyzed usage data to get a solid understanding of what our users needed and expected from the platform. This wasn't just about gathering data; it was about getting into the users' shoes, understanding their day-to-day challenges and what they value in a platform like ours.
With a clear picture of our users' needs, we moved into the ideation and prototyping phase. The goal here was to create designs that were not only functional but also straightforward and easy to use. We built prototypes for key user flows and put them through rigorous testing, ensuring that the end product would be something that our users would find intuitive and helpful.
One of the key steps in the process was developing a comprehensive design system. This wasn't just about choosing colors and fonts; it was about creating a set of design principles and components that would ensure consistency and coherence across the entire platform. This system was crucial in speeding up the design process and maintaining a unified look and feel across the platform.
The design process was iterative, involving a continuous cycle of feedback and refinement. This approach ensured that the final product wasn't just based on our initial assumptions but was shaped by ongoing input, making sure it met the business and customer needs in the most effective way possible.
For the client side of the platform, the aim was to make the experience as smooth as possible, from browsing and searching for images to licensing them. The interface needed to be clean and straightforward, minimizing obstacles and making it easy for clients to find what they were looking for. We created a simple feedback portal for all new users to access and provide thoughts, comments and bugs. This was a huge success and over the first couple of weeks we saw 200 users, 47 votes for content adjustments and another 38 direct comments. Our team quickly resolved issues and bugs, then dove directly into enhancements. Within the first month we had shipped all the changes in the first two weeks and had an incredible response.
On the contributor side, the focus was on simplicity and functionality. Contributors needed to be able to upload their work easily, manage their portfolios without hassle, and get clear insights into how their images were performing. The design here was all about removing barriers and making the process as efficient as possible. This success was seen asw e were able to quickly upload assets, run through image approvals, provide feedback with adjustments, and curate 30k of the best collections to launch with. The team was able to process 250k photos in 2 months with 2 people!
The admin side required a different approach. The platform needed to be robust, giving admins the tools they needed to manage content and users effectively, but it also had to be intuitive, ensuring that managing the platform wasn't more complicated than it needed to be. Our team was able to use the admin portal to lock in almost 900 artists to date. They are easily able to manage their relationship and onboard them to our platform with ease.
The launch of Stills marked the culmination of this intensive design process. The feedback from users has been overwhelmingly positive, confirming that the focus on practicality, efficiency, and user-centric design was the right approach. This project wasn't just about creating a visually appealing platform; it was about building something that genuinely met the needs of our diverse user base, and that's something we achieved with Stills.
