Building experiences people connect with.

The existing platforms created three connected problems:

1. 01Content was managed across separate brand experiences.
2. 02Editorial teams had limited flexibility when organizing and publishing stories.
3. 03The experience was not optimized for mobile, despite approximately 80% of users accessing it from mobile devices.

The new platform needed to support multiple markets, content types, and editorial priorities without creating one-off experiences.

I led the experience strategy and design direction from discovery through validation across four areas:

1. Product foundation: Sitemap, information architecture, and mobile-first approach
2. Core experiences: Homepage, article, video, and live radio journeys
3. Design system: Modular content system, responsive web and app design, and digital style guide
4. Validation and alignment: Tree testing, usability testing, and collaboration across editorial and engineering

1. No. 1

   Design mobile-first, not mobile-adapted

   With approximately 80% of users coming from mobile, mobile became the baseline experience rather than a smaller version of the desktop site.

2. No. 2

   Replace rigid templates with a modular system

   I used atomic design principles to create reusable cards and content modules. This gave editorial teams more flexibility to rearrange content while maintaining consistency across markets.

3. No. 3

   Simplify and stabilize before adding features

   App Store and Google Play review analysis showed that most negative feedback related to performance and UX friction, while fewer than 3% related to missing features. This supported a strategy focused on improving stability and simplifying the core experience before expanding functionality.

I led two rounds of unmoderated usability testing with 15+ participants across homepage, article, video, and live radio journeys. The findings informed refinements to:

1. Information architecture
2. Navigation
3. Content hierarchy
4. Video and live-content behaviour
5. Key interaction patterns

Users valued Citytv's content but were not engaging with the app itself. Research revealed:

1. 01Crashes and freezing
2. 02No AirPlay support
3. 03Heavy advertising during playback
4. 04Difficulty finding relevant content
5. 05Limited support for returning to unfinished shows
6. 06An inconsistent experience across devices

The opportunity was to rebuild the app around the core viewing journey: finding something to watch and easily returning to shows already in progress.

I shaped the product experience from research and discovery through high-fidelity design, leading the redesign across four areas:

1. Research and opportunity definition: Analytics, market research, app-store review analysis, card sorting, and user surveys
2. Experience strategy: Core viewing journeys, information architecture, and home-screen concept exploration
3. Product direction: Personalization, notifications, and watch-list features
4. Cross-device delivery: Experience design across devices and collaboration with engineering throughout the redesign

1. No. 1

   Design around catching up, not just browsing

   The experience prioritized Continue Watching, My List, episode history, show pages, and direct access to playback. This shifted the app from a content catalogue toward a viewing companion.

2. No. 2

   Personalize the home screen around viewing behaviour

   Instead of showing the same static carousel to everyone, the home screen surfaced content based on viewing behaviour and preferences. This made the experience more relevant and reduced the effort required to find a favourite show.

3. No. 3

   Create one continuous experience across devices

   The redesign supported a more consistent experience across phone, tablet, web, and Apple TV, allowing viewers to start watching on one device and continue on another.

Before detailed wireframes, I combined:

1. Market research
2. Analytics review
3. App Store feedback
4. User surveys
5. Card sorting
6. Guerrilla testing
7. Rapid prototyping

Four home-screen directions were explored and reviewed before the strongest concept was developed into a prototype, wireframes, and high-fidelity designs.

The existing platform structure created several limitations:

1. 01Each platform required separate updates and releases.
2. 02Content was largely static.
3. 03Merchandising could not easily adapt to user preferences, teams, leagues, or time of day.
4. 04The experience varied significantly across web, mobile, and TV.
5. 05The product mirrored linear television instead of being designed around digital sports behaviour.

The goal was to create a shared foundation that could support more relevant content, faster evolution, and future features such as interactive timelines, stats overlays, and multi-camera viewing.

I helped define the product direction and design foundation for the replatforming effort, leading work across four areas:

1. Strategy and alignment: Product vision, digital-first experience principles, and stakeholder alignment
2. Architecture and systems: Cross-platform site architecture, reusable design patterns, and system foundations
3. Experience design: Wireframes and visual design across web, mobile, TV, and connected devices
4. Product concepts and validation: Personalization, content merchandising, sign-in, subscription, device activation, concept evaluation, and usability testing

1. No. 1

   Design around live sports, not linear television

   The experience prioritized live and upcoming games, replays, highlights, leagues, teams, and fast access to current events. This created a product model designed for active sports viewing rather than passive channel browsing.

2. No. 2

   Create one experience across every platform

   A shared information architecture and visual foundation connected web, mobile, TV, and connected devices. The platforms were not designed to be identical — they were designed around a consistent mental model adapted to each screen and viewing context.

3. No. 3

   Make content dynamic and relevant

   The system was designed to support content merchandising based on favourite teams, favourite leagues, live and upcoming events, time of day, viewing behaviour, and content availability. This moved the experience beyond static content toward more relevant discovery.

One of the first feature explorations was an interactive timeline that helped viewers identify important moments during a game and return to them later. Testing showed that:

1. Participants responded positively to the concept.
2. Users quickly understood the value of revisiting key moments.
3. Discoverability was the main challenge.
4. Most participants found the feature only after prompting.

This finding influenced the interaction design and reinforced the need for stronger visual cues for advanced live-event features.