// Matt Mair Lowery // User Experience Consulting and Design Portfolio
Project: Show.co Ad Builder (2018-2020)
When CD Baby acquired promotion platform Show.co, they wanted to leverage the underlying software to create a new type of promotional tool, in the form of a web app, that allowed musicians them to engage listeners with Spotify and iHeart audio ads, have their music featured on popular websites like Pitchfork, Billboard, and MTV, and target fans of music anywhere they might be online.
A simple user experience that worked both for non-technical audience members - musicians that may not spend lots of time online or on computers - and also met the more complex needs of record label marketing minions handling many multi-faceted ad campaigns every week, was key.
Matt worked at a rapid clip to define the user experience for the new app in order to meet an aggressive launch date. He initially assisted with stakeholder interview sessions and the gathering of requirements, then led the way on designing and developing detailed screens and flows, flat-file and click-through prototypes, and finished/polished designs. Later, he worked with Show.co's in-house developers to implement the finished designs.
After the initial UX effort, Matt continued on with the Show.co team, refining the product based on company goals, user feedback and analytics.
THE DESIGNS:
With an aggressive launch date in place from the project’s outset, time was of the essence. After detailed discussions, Matt dove right into sequential screen designs, skipping the usual mapping and workflow steps, in an attempt nail down the general look and feel (based on but extending Show.co’s existing brand identity/materials) at the same time as the basic features and functions. Once these designs were approved, Matt built out an HTML prototype to validate the UX with internal stakeholders and produce image assets and CSS that could be rolled into the actual app’s development.
INITIAL DESIGNS
First-time user landing screen
Ad campaign set up screen
Ad campaign content screen
Audio ad preview modal
Ads list screen, no stats available
Ads list screen with stats
REFINING THE APP
Based on analytics and user feedback the team decided to move the creation of content to the first step in the process a few months after launch. This brought to the fore the UI’s dynamic, real-time updating of the Ad Preview, a feature that proved to draw users in more than starting by providing the ad’s general information (which was moved to step two).
REFINEMENTS PROCESS DOCS
During the refinement process, the team was under less of a time crunch and used a more standard approach to documenting, reviewing, and deciding on which improvements to tackle. Here are a couple complete sample slide decks created by Matt at various points between 2018 and 2020 that feature improvement and new feature definitions and designs.
AN ONGOING RELATIONSHIP
Matt’s relationship with CD Baby’s Show.co team is ongoing, with Matt providing user experience consulting and design as needed in support of the product’s road map.