Boosting the submission rate from 3%to 26% of Genies artist community "Workshop"
Project at a Glance
Genies Workshop is a web community that encourages artists to submit monthly UGC with design prompts. I led a cross-functional team to redesign the experience and launched a new asset portal to make submissions easier and smoother for artists.
Pain points were identified through user journey mapping and validated by artists. Based on those insights, an upgraded Workshop and asset submission portal were prioritized as key solutions.
Through close collaboration, a new Workshop website and asset submission portal were launched to encourage UGC from external artists, increasing the submission rate from 3% to 26% in the first month.
Project Overview
Context
Genies Workshop is a web community that encourages external artists to create user-generated content (UGC) by sharing monthly design prompts with a prize. Submitted UGC pieces are published as digital wearables within the Genies ecosystem. However, in Fall 2023, the submission rate dropped to just 3%. As the UX designer on the team, I led a cross-functional team to redesign the Workshop experience and introduced a new asset portal that made it significantly easier and smoother for external artists to submit their work.
Outcome
Asset submission rate was increased from 3% to 26% and 5 new external UGC collaborations were established within the first month of release.
The average asset approval time was reduced by 35% within the asset portal.
A workshop design system was introduced with 20+ design components to empower the workshop community with a vibrant visual identity.
Design Process
Product auditing
Current State
The Workshop shares monthly prompts and inspiration to encourage external artists to create UGC assets. Artists then upload their files to Google Drive, following instructions from the Genies team. Based on feedback received via email, they can refine their submissions before receiving final approval. Once approved, the assets are published and gain exposure within the Genies ecosystem.
Problems to be sloved
Low community engagement revealed weak connection between artists and the Workshop platform.
Poor information hierarchy and inconsistent UI patterns resulted in unclear prompt experiences and reduced user motivation.
Fragmented, cross-platform submission flow caused confusion and led to high drop-off rates in UGC creation.
Research
User Persona and User Journey
Assumptions, pain points, and opportunities were identified through persona and user journey mapping. In the user journey map, steps 4 and 5 emerged as the most friction-heavy phases, indicating key areas for improvement and high-impact potential.
User Interview
By conducting in-person interviews with previous Workshop artists, 60+ user feedback were synthesized into 5 key themes, which helped validate assumptions surfaced in earlier research.
Research Findings
In conclusion, the clueless and redundant process are identified as the major problems that blocks artists from creations. From this point, How might we create an efficient and seamless workshop experience to boost the submission rate?
Design Solution
Two design directions were aligned with stakeholders and finalized as solutions.
1. Enhancing prompt discovery and navigation by redesigning the Workshop community experience
2. Streamlining the asset submission process through the launch of a creation submission portal
Final Deliverables
Prototyping
Workshop Community
Infographics were introduced to onboard artists to the Workshop, reducing the risk of overwhelming them with complex information.
Prompts were broken into several steps, with curated visual hints to spark inspiration and clear technical requirements to guide the creation process.
A 3D toolkits section was introduced to provide resources that ease the anxiety of starting from scratch and empower artists to focus on their creative process.
Asset Submission Portal
To streamline the submission process, a dedicated portal was designed, allowing artists to upload their work seamlessly and efficiently.
By following step-by-step instructions within the system, artists uploaded their creations in the required formats, ensuring accuracy and completeness throughout process.
Previous research revealed that artists often lost track of feedback and iterations within email threads. To address this, a Kanban system was introduced to showcase previous submission versions alongside feedback, approvals, and other relevant content, providing artists with a clear visual hierarchy of the submission workflow.
Collaboration Optimization
Design Component
A workshop design system was introduced with 20+ design components to empower the workshop community with a vibrant visual identity.
The prompt was templated alongside an asset library to improve design consistency and efficiency for product team, enabling monthly Workshop updates without extra design effort.
Learnings
Looking back, one of the key lessons I learned during the project was how to make stakeholder reviews more effective. I started presenting ideas with clear design notes to help stakeholders better understand with the rationale behind each concept. I also restructured the meetings to include a dedicated design Q&A session to ensure a clear alignment on next steps. Through this process, I quickly adapted to the fast-paced startup design environment and learned how to drive impact within tight timelines.