Whisper

Sequoia Capital backed startup Whisper is a social network connecting over 250 million users through iOS, Android and Web distributed content. 

When

2013 - 2017

Employer

Whisper

Role

Design Lead

Mission

Founded in 2012, Whisper is a social network like no other. Unlike traditional social networks that have become a highlight real of our lives, Whisper is a place for those thoughts and moments you aren’t so public about. On the platform, users anonymously express themselves by sharing a composition of text with an image or video background.  Whisper has become a community of genuine connection through empathy and sympathy of its users. Inspired by the mission, I devoted the next four years to improving the lives of millions by designing a product that makes our world a little more human. 

Users & Audience

The target users of Whisper are adolescents and young adults still in school. This demographic of users is social media savvy with a strong preference for mobile first interaction and versed in multi platform media consumption. Although Whisper expanded into many regions, the main focus for the product was on North America.

Persona 1

Jeremy Parks

Jeremy is a student attending USC. Well liked, Jeremy is an extrovert with a large social media following. Family problems and a difficult living situation have recently made him depressed.

Goals

• Find a safe place to talk about his emotions

• Keep his social media presence strong

Pain Points

• Friends don't want to hear about his problems

• Can't share his negative thoughts on social media

Favorite Apps

Instagram, Snapchat, Group Me

Persona 2

Melissa Steele

Melissa recently moved with her family to Raleigh, North Carolina. An introvert with no friends in her new hometown will make her final year in high school challenging.

Goals

• Make new friends

• Find likeminded classmates

Pain Points

• Doesn't know how to find new friends

• Difficulty socializing

Favorite Apps

Tumblr, Instagram, Snapchat

Team & Role

I joined Whisper as the first full-time product designer in August of 2013. As the product and team grew, so did my experience and value within the company. During my later years at Whisper, I lead product designers, a team of video editors including motion designers and managing contractors for various projects. I helped lead new product and feature initiatives for iOS, Android, web, video and print working closely with product managers and senior staff.

Design Process

Project Summary

At Whisper we wanted to introduce video whispers as a new form of expression within the app. Research showed us that user retention was significantly higher the more often a user created whispers. Ultimately we felt our product lacked enriched and engaging video content other social products had. With the addition of video our product would also become more attractive to advertisers. 

Key Performance Indicators

• Increase User Engagement

• Increase User Retention

• Introduce Video Advertisements

Market Analysis

In order to build a familiar user experience, we started by evaluating top apps within the social and media landscape. Discovering trends amongst the apps we explored, we were able to build a foundation to start with. After evaluating the market we also realized our product felt dated without the rich media format of video. 

Key Insights

• Square or fullscreen vertical video is common

• Autoplay seems to be the standard

• Content types varied within feed view apps (Instagram and Facebook)

Brainstorm Solutions

Working with the CEO, head of product, a product manger, and junior designers we quickly wrote our potential solutions on post it notes and placed them on a whiteboard. Once all our ideas were on the whiteboard, we voted on our favorite solutions. For the full design sprint process we followed view www.gv.com/sprint

Conclusion

• Autoplay whisper videos

• No sound unless its an advertisement

• Fullscreen video isn’t a technically viable option at this time

Low Fidelity Mockups

The team narrowed down the whisper video consumption experiences into three different styles. I then used a whiteboard to quickly mockup potential visual layouts.

Results

• Normal grid feed with video Whispers throughout

• Square sized video within the feed

• Scrub and scroll grid feed experience similar to Pinterest’s ad units

Interactive Prototypes

These prototypes were produced to find the optimal video format to live within the home feed of Whisper. Worried video whispers within the home feed migh lead to a decrease in engagement of image based whispers, I created these interactive prototypes to be tested in user studies.

User Interviews

We asked interviewees specific questions regarding the new video whisper concept, which feed style they enjoyed most, and why. Although we did all these user interviews at our office, you can now leverage services such as lookback.io to conduct user interviews remotely.

Interviewees

• 10 interviewees total, each interviewed individually

• Ages ranged from 14-45

• 20% non-user, 80% whisper users

• 40% male, 60% female

• 60% Android users, 40% iOS users

Goal for Interviews

• Choose a Whisper feed format

• Find usability issues within Whisper

User Interface

After reviewing the feedback from our interviewees, we decided to display video whispers beside image based whispers. We chose to space out the frequency of video whispers so that image based whispers wouldn't dominate the feed. A small video icon animates in the top right of video whispers to let users know a video is loading.

Development and Polish

I produced both iOS and Android mocks, assets and animations for all video components of the app. Working closely with developers, I also helped create a confluence page outlining core functionality and provided visual examples for each feature. Finally I cleaned up my sketch files and dropbox folders to make it easier for other designers on my team to revisit my work in the future. 

Launch and Learn

Introducing video within the app lead to an increase in user creates and session time. The new video feature also allowed Whisper to close multiple ad campaigns with brand partners making the new feature well worth the investment.

Succesful Objectives

• Increased User Engagement

• Introduced Video Advertisements

Unsuccessful Objectives

• Failed to Increase User Retention