Problem

The company faced a challenge with its predominantly young user base, who primarily used mobile devices. While I delivered a responsive web design a few months earlier, the absence of a dedicated mobile app was really impacting the ability to scale our engagement on the platform.

Strategy and Process

As the solo designer, I took the lead on this critical project after we received significant feedback that our responsive website wasn’t meeting user expectations. With the startup’s limited resources, we made the strategic decision to build an app that would deliver a vastly improved user experience.

Given the responsibility to spearhead this project, I conducted an in-depth analysis to identify the platform’s most frequent user action, which turned out to be the sharing of badges—awarded to fans as a symbol of their dedication to their idols. Recognizing the emotional attachment users had to these badges, I saw an opportunity to drive engagement.

I independently defined the core set of features that the new app needed to support, working closely with an iOS developer to ensure technical feasibility. Additionally, I crafted a distinctive visual style that made the badges more appealing and shareable, creating a design fans would be proud to display on social media.

Solution

We launched the app with a new set of exclusive badges that could only be earned through the app, driving engagement and excitement among users. As a junior designer, this project was my first opportunity to fully manage the creative side of app development from concept to production. It was a pivotal learning experience where I sharpened my time management skills, mastered a new design tool (Sketch), and grew confident in balancing creative freedom with the realities of deadlines and technical constraints. This project not only expanded my design capabilities but also taught me how to navigate the challenges of shipping a product in a fast-paced startup environment.