A comprehensive redesign transitioning Tripadvisor’s Content Solutions from a simple API into a multi-tier business solution, improving user experience and driving engagement through modernized product management and billing.
[FYI: The hero image was AI-generated, and this project was not fully completed before I left the company.]Goals:
The project aimed to relaunch Content Solutions as a multi-tier product, shifting from a usage-based API to varied pricing strategies. Initially focused on adding a pricing table and checkout tier selector, the goal expanded to a moderate portal redesign.
Context:
The project began as a simple initiative to implement a new pricing model for Tripadvisor’s Content Solutions, transitioning the existing usage-based API into a multi-tier structure. During the evaluation of these requirements, the scope was expanded to a moderate redesign to ensure the portal reflected the company’s recent rebranding and to better facilitate how users manage their activated products, billing, and invoices. Because the product strategy was initially ill-defined and lacked tracking data, the project relied on design-led exploration to help define the product’s identity while swiftly adapting to frequently changing business requirements.
Challenges:
- Unclear Product Strategy: The product strategy was not fully defined at the outset, requiring the design process to actively help the product owner establish the product’s identity.
- Everchanging Product Pricing: Frequent shifts in the transition from a simple API to a multi-tier structure required constant design adaptations.
- Lack of Tracking Data: A critical absence of analytics meant relying on “designer’s gut feeling” and educated guesses rather than hard metrics to drive decisions.
- Inadequate Initial Scope: The original request for a simple pricing table was insufficient to address the fundamental changes in how users would now need to manage products and billing.
What did I do?
Work Process
01
Requirement Evaluation
Analyzing the initial request, which was simply to insert a simple pricing table on a few pages. This phase led to the proposal of a moderate redesign because the new multi-tier pricing structure fundamentally changed how users manage their activated products and necessitated a larger scope, including the migration of billing and invoice functions.
02
Strategic Alignment
Utilizing customer-centric design thinking to fill the strategic void created by the initially unclear product strategy. This involved “design-led product exploration” to help the product owner define and establish the product’s identity while design was taking place simultaneously.
03
Agile Iteration
Demonstrating agility by responding to everchanging product pricing and the evolving multi-tier structure. This required the ability to swiftly adopt new changes frequently, and rely on “designer’s gut feeling” and “educated guesses” to drive design decisions in the absence of tracking data.
04
Visual Rebranding
Executing a visual update to ensure the Content Solutions portal aligned with Tripadvisor’s latest visual language and current rebrand look and feel.
05
To Be Continued…
Unfortunately, Tripadvisor went through a round of layoffs, and this project was not finished as of the time of departure.
Highlights:
- Strategic Expansion: Transformation of a limited request into a strategic redesign that integrated billing, invoice migration, and a centralized management center.
- Design-Led Definition: Successful use of the design process to bridge strategic gaps, effectively building the product’s strategic foundation through visual exploration.
- Agility Under Ambiguity: Demonstrated high agility by navigating a landscape without tracking data, relying on professional intuition to meet frequently shifting requirements.
- Holistic Alignment: Ensured the portal reflected the latest rebranding while creating a smooth, modernized experience for a wide array of global industry partners.