Creative
Pulse Case · Nº 004

— Feb 6, 2023 · Kick-off

Understand before you redesign.

Pulse Media had a creator dashboard that worked — technically. The backend was solid. But creators were spending an average of 4.2 minutes finding key analytics, and churn among accounts posting fewer than twice a week was climbing. The product team's instinct was to add features. Our first conversation was about subtraction.

We mapped the existing flows before touching any design tool: every screen, every modal, every path a creator could take. The result was a 47-state flow diagram that revealed the problem immediately — not complexity, but inconsistency.

— Feb 13, 2023 · User interviews

Twelve creators. One clear signal.

Twelve moderated user research sessions with active Pulse creators across different content categories. We used a task-based protocol: no leading questions, just observation. Session recordings totaled 11 hours.

The signal that appeared in session three and didn't stop: creators wanted to know if their content was working, not how the algorithm scored it. They wanted story, not metrics — but the dashboard gave them charts.

— Feb 27, 2023 · IA + flows

One primary job per screen.

Information architecture rebuilt from scratch. The new structure gave each dashboard view a single primary job: the home screen answered 'how is my content performing this week', the analytics view answered 'what should I do differently', the upload flow answered 'how do I publish without friction'.

Navigation reduced from 9 top-level items to 4. Every cut was documented with the research finding that justified it.

— Mar 13, 2023 · Lo-fi exploration

Low-fi first, always.

18 wireframe iterations across the three core views. We shared early and shared often — a weekly review with the product and engineering team meant nothing went too far down the wrong path. Three concepts for the analytics view were killed at wireframe stage because of backend feasibility; catching that early saved weeks.

The final wireframe set was reviewed in a 3-hour session with two lead engineers before any visual design began. No surprises in handover.

— Mar 27, 2023 · Hi-fi build

A design system, not just screens.

Visual design built as a component library from day one. Tokens for color, spacing, radius, and elevation. Every component built to dark and light mode. Typography system using two faces: a variable sans for UI copy, a monospaced face for all data display.

— Apr 24, 2023 · Dev handover

Engineering needs context, not just specs.

Handover structured around two sessions: a component walkthrough for the frontend team and a flow walkthrough for the backend team. Figma annotated not just with measurements but with the reasoning behind every spacing decision and interaction state.

The product launched in beta six weeks after handover. First-week data showed average time-to-analytics-view dropped from 4.2 to 0.8 minutes.