PLG SAAS
Rebuilding a simplified, more productive design tool for a broader user group.
MY ROLE
Product Designer
Research and synthesis,
UX Design,
Visual/UI,
User Flows,
Protoyping,
Cross collaboration
TIMELINE
Feb - Aug' 23
(6 months)
TEAM
Vincent Le Moign (Founder),
Victor Carvalho (Developer),
Khushi Lunkad (Marketing)
Context
ABOUT
Streamline App is a B2C SAAS product providing a vast collection of vector assets for product/graphic designers, marketers and developers. The app allows users to quickly access, customize, and download icons in various formats and sizes.
WHY?
Change was a necessity: Since 2018 the app remained the same. No change in design. Soon, new features stopped ‘fitting in’ and things got complicated. Users stopped using our app and slowly numbers started dropping.
Business Problem
Streamline aims to become the market leader for asset needs globally. For us to accomplish this, we need users to find value in the product, retain and convert.
When we dived deeper to understand the problem, we found out the following:
5% users retain
Most users who tried using the app for the first time ever would bounce and never come back to the app.
0.9% users convert
Out of total users who used the app more than once, only 0.9% opted to pay for a subscription.
Low feature usage
Users hardly used the features that existed. Some were so low that more than 90% users had not discovered it.
Learning from user feedback and data
Our feature usage was already known to be quite low from our Mixpanel data.
We realised that the problem was deep rooted, and quick fixes would not be enough to solve them. So, we started involving users more in our design process.
User Persona
Our user base was large and diverse.
To make Streamline simpler for everyone, we needed to hear from all of them collectively.
Personas that we had already identified:
User Interviews
We began by recruiting users from Intercom to reach out to a diverse audience who happened to be on Streamline already. We divided the process into three parts to gain insights from all user groups and our major different personas.
Paid customers
• why users chose Streamline • exploring likes • assess the paid plan pro/con
Free signed-in users
why users stayed on the free plan • what to improve • identify upgrade incentives
Learning from beginners
test key flows and tasks • observing their experience to pinpoint difficulties • find areas for improvement for starters.
User Insights
21 user calls from three user groups and the diverse persona types, we uncovered interesting insights about their pain points, aspirations and needs.
UX CHALLENGE
How might we make Streamline web app a productive tool so users retain and convert?
Defining user goals
Make it a platform for all user types
Ensure diverse user can use the interface.
Organisation and accessibility
Help users find what they need easily.
Ensure scalability for future
Clean the information architecture and make room for more features.
Increase feature usability
Make the features discoverable and simpler. Help users include them into their workflow.
Design is so simple, that’s why it is so complicated.
Initial concepts
Visual Styles
Explorations
During the design process, I tried to strike a balance in user experience that would accommodate both new users and power users.
A lot was on my plate. I had to organise my tasks well in order for the outcome to be what we desired. To achieve this, I divided the redesign into smaller, manageable sections and focused on iterating each one step by step. This allowed to carefully consider each aspect of the app and make improvements where necessary.
Final Design
Last year in August 2023, we launched a new version of Streamline.
We completely reimagined the user experience of the app, moved things around a lot, and introduced a bold branding created by StudioPaack.
User Testing
Beta
Gained feedback by sharing beta with initial research participants
Tested prototype with volunteers through Userberry
Early feedback facilitated design refinement before broader testing.
A/B Testing
Hypothesized users struggled to find export options quickly
Used Statsig for A/B test
Variant with export options as visible tabs
Increased users viewing/exporting assets (63% vs 55% in control)
Overall impact after the redesign
Wins based on data
User feedback
What I'm taking back from this project
Learning about the icon industry: I had previous knowledge about how icons were made and how to use them being in the design industry but this project gave me a deep understanding about the best practices and industry standards of iconography.
Learning from the handoff: The handoff process was long and tough, especially with a project of this size. Communication was a challenge initially, with lots of back-and-forth on Slack. It was messy but enlightening.
Few things did not age well
Version 2.0
Despite a successful launch that got users active, our retention numbers were still somewhat low and didn't improve much post-redesign. There were still some unresolved issues. We needed to fix that.
We came up with several hypotheses to tackle these issues from development, design, and marketing angles, aiming to patch up the gaps.
Main design challenge was that users struggling to immediately grasp the distinctions between our various sets and their unique features, making it hard for them to see the value Streamline offers. It's now WIP.
