The problem: During my stint as the UX Manager for Google Podcasts, I joined the team inheriting a struggling product that couldn’t find its place as a consumer product. It was lagging behind all competitors despite having the power of Google’s reach behind it. Why? It just didn’t feel like a well thought out consumer product that was fun, easy, or even pleasant to use. Simply put…it took work.
The objective: To develop a creative vision and design strategy that would showcase “the product our consumers actually want”. The plan was to provide product leadership and engineering something they could use to champion significant overhauls in functionality and approach.
The result: A podcast app that felt like a consumer product users would actually enjoy using.
Every aspect of the app was torn down and redesigned from the ground up with the consumer in mind. Excess functionality was stripped out and replaced with intuitive and helpful interaction patterns. We integrated all the must-have features that users have come to expect like - personalization, recommendations, and curated content. We also recommended taking a new approach to content by learning our users listening patterns during various times of the day and week to play the right thing at the right time. And lastly, we embraced the idea of “turn on and forget” because at the end of the day, podcasts are meant to be consumed as a supplement to your daily activities.
Role: UX Manager, UX Designer
Skills Used: Identity, UX design, UI design, project management, team management