As the Director of Product Design at Storyboard, I led a strategic shift from podcasting to a voice chat experience centered around real-time user needs. This pivot aimed to increase user engagement and encourage content creation, making Storyboard an intuitive, accessible platform for diverse users.
Our initial podcasting platform faced limitations in driving user interaction and content creation. Stakeholders wanted to transition to a voice-driven chat interface to improve engagement, accessibility, and content sharing within teams. Pivoting towards a new product direction demanded a fresh perspective and design thinking.
I led the team in conducting interviews with potential users to understand pain points in driver-to-dispatcher communication and gauge interest in a more interactive, hands-free chat experience. We identified that users needed a more interactive, real-time communication tool, especially valuable for drivers who couldn't rely on traditional hands-on interfaces while on the road. Then, we developed personas focusing on accessibility needs and usage contexts (e.g., hands-free environments), helping inform our design decisions for maximum inclusivity and usability.
Next, the team and I created journey maps for different user types, considering scenarios such as driving, field work, and remote team coordination. These maps revealed crucial moments where voice-driven interactions could enhance usability. We used these maps to ideate features such as voice-activated commands, message transcription, and real-time translation, prioritizing high-impact features that would promote hands-free usage and broaden the platform’s accessibility.
We created prototypes to test the chat functionality, onboarding flow, and accessibility features. Prototypes were iterated based on user feedback, with particular focus on ease of use for users who could not interact directly with their devices. Next, we build a free public beta and conducted usability testing in real-world scenarios, such as driving simulations, to ensure seamless hands-free interactions and real-time responsiveness. This testing led to enhancements in the voice recognition accuracy and UI adjustments. The introduction of redundant audio and visual message formats as well as the translation feature was an instant hit with potential clients, and combined with our adherence to WCAG guidelines created a uniquely accessible product that broadened the TAM for the product to include companies with off-shore dispatchers.
During the public beta, I implemented an abbreviated "fat marker" design sprint process designed to fail fast and learn quickly, with daily stakeholder syncs, iterative prototyping, and regular usability testing. We leaned heavily on existing design systems like Material Design to speed time to implementation, reducing product concept to design delivery time by 50%. After incorporating feedback and further iterating on the design, we launched Storyboard's new chat experience to pilot trucking customers like Grand Island Express, Cypress, and Ryder.
The shift to an operationally-focused voice chat experience resulted in a 4x increase in user-generated content per account, indicating higher engagement and willingness to use the platform interactively User engagement also tripled as a result of more intuitive, hands-free design features, driving higher platform adoption rates.
By understanding users' environments, such as truck drivers requiring hands-free access, we were able to design a platform truly suited to their needs. The structured sprint framework enabled us to iterate quickly based on usability testing, allowing for efficient problem-solving and faster time to market. Working closely with internal and external stakeholders allowed us to expand the platform’s impact, aligning business objectives in the trucking sector with a user-centered design.
