Led design for the core creator experience, helping thousands of creators bring their ideas to life.
Creating a design organization
The year before I joined Kickstarter, the product organization had experienced close to a 90% turnover. I saw it as a unique opportunity to build a team from scratch while working on a beloved brand.
Kickstarter's mission is to help bring creative projects to life.Optimize the hiring process
As I began to focus on hiring designers to support the company's various parallel initiatives, I noticed a lot of inefficiencies in the hiring process. Specifically, we didn't have confidence that a candidate's portfolio represented the quality of work they would bring to Kickstarter, and candidates were often brought back for multiple rounds because the interviewers couldn't agree if that person was the right fit for the role. Interviews seemed to get stuck perpetually at the "on-site" stage.
- 1Phone screen
- 2On-site 1:1's
- 3Decision
I introduced a lightweight design exercise that could be administered remotely and would help us understand a candidate's design thinking and communication skills. This helped us make more confident decisions earlier in the process.
Build the team
Over the course of 4 years, I hired and managed a team of 20+ product designers, researchers, and content strategists. We focused on creating a culture of collaboration, experimentation, and continuous learning.
Regular user research sessions helped keep the team connected to our community.Evolving the product
When I joined Kickstarter, the product had remained largely unchanged for several years. We embarked on a multi-year journey to modernize the platform while maintaining what made it special.
The new project page design improved conversion by 18%.Design system
We created Kickstarter Design System (KDS) to ensure consistency across all platforms and accelerate our development process. The system included components, patterns, and guidelines that were used by designers and engineers alike.
Results
- Increased creator success rate by 23%
- Improved backer conversion by 18%
- Reduced design-to-development time by 40%
- Achieved 98% design consistency across platforms
Kickstarter's 10th Anniversary
Problem
After defining the crowdfunding space in 2009, Kickstarter entered a period of dormancy, and its beloved and vibrant brand had become muted and flat. My tenure overlapped with Kickstarter's 10th birthday, and we saw an opportunity to remind the world who we were.
Solution
We celebrated with a company-wide effort. Product worked closely with Brand to infuse Kickstarter with new colors, typography, illustrations, and interactive components.
Impact
- 144k visitors (goal was 30k)
- 18% engagement rate (goal was 10%)
- $2.1M average daily backings (goal was $1.7M)
Add-on Rewards
Problem
While rewards provide an excellent way for Creators to thank Backers for their support, some projects had a level of complexity that our existing feature set didn't meet. The ability to provide "add-ons", or optional rewards, was one of the top user requests.
Solution
After user research and a private beta period, we released our take on add-ons across all platforms, taking into account the needs of both creators and backers, and it saw warm reception and immediate adoption.
Impact
- 8.5% increase to average pledge amount
- 17% increase to total revenue
- 22% of pledges included add-ons (goal was 15%)
Project Budget
Problem
Creators often come to Kickstarter with a creative idea, but limited experience creating budgets and anticipating fulfillment costs. Lack of planning in this area can make or break a project and is one of the top reported concerns from backers.
Solution
The team leveraged a Google Sheets template based on calculations from experienced creators and made it available to everyone. Once completed, an interactive visualization was generated which could be published on the project page to help Backers understand how funds were being allocated.
Impact
- 40% of creators use the feature
- 5% of creators publish the visualization
- Significant press coverage
