Maker, a Rapid Video Creation Platform
Overview
During my time at Storyblocks, I worked on a variety of features for Maker, our rapid video creation tool. My role involved leading a variety of Design Sprints to conceive and test brand new ideas for the platform, collaborating closely with a dedicated team of analysts, engineers, researchers, and product managers to design, refine, and implement these features, and shaping upcoming product strategy by leading sessions with cross-functional groups across the organization. This experience gave me a deep understanding of the ever-evolving landscape of video creation and allowed me to help shape the future of the product. Outlined below are two initiatives I spearheaded for the platform.
1. Prototyping Upcoming Roadmap Features for Maker
One of the initiatives I led for the Maker team was an initiative aimed at visualizing our product roadmap for the upcoming 6 - 12 months. I created a prototype highlighting features pinpointed during extensive brainstorming sessions, which I facilitated with a cross-functional team of stakeholders. This effort helped showcase upcoming work across the entire organization and established a user-friendly experience to help guide feature development.
You can view the full prototype here.
The prototype included the following key features:
Uploading a Screen Recording and Voiceover
- Enabled easy drag-and-drop features for uploading media files.
Add Closed Captions
- Introduced a simple UI for adding and editing captions.
Advanced Filtering and Searching Options
- Implemented robust search algorithms and filters for easier content discovery.
Accessing User Uploaded and Favorited Content
- Created both an “Uploads” and 'Favorites' tab for easy access to content.
Shared Projects with Teammates
- Introduced a 'Share' button and multi-user editing capabilities.
Suggested Video Alternatives in the Timeline
- Suggested alternatives appear as pop-up options while editing.
Easily Aligning Video and Audio
- Included an alignment tool to sync video and audio with ease.
Maker Product Strategy Prototype Here
2. Creating Brands for Maker
Overview
Based on significant user feedback, the Maker team recognized the importance of allowing our users to create videos that seamlessly aligned with their brand identity. The challenge was to design a user-friendly solution that enabled users to effortlessly upload, define, and incorporate on-brand elements while preserving a streamlined video creation process.
User Feedback and Initial Ideation
User feedback played a pivotal role in shaping the project's direction. The feedback underscored the need for a streamlined, user-centric solution that wouldn't compromise the speed and simplicity of video creation.
I led a series of collaborative cross-functional brainstorming sessions to generate initial ideas and sketches. These sessions fostered a collective understanding of the user needs and potential design directions.
Two Access Points for Branding
We learned from users the importance of user roles (Creative Director, Admin, User) when setting up brands. We also heard that users didn’t want to be taken out of the Maker experience when setting up a new brand. To address these needs, we devised two distinct ways for users to create and access their brands within Maker.
- In-Editor Branding: This feature enabled users to seamlessly infuse their brand elements (imagery, logo, colors, fonts) directly within the video editor. It ensured that users could maintain a creative flow without leaving the workspace.
- Brands Landing Page: We also introduced a dedicated "Brands" landing page on the Storyblocks platform. Here, users could set up and manage their brand assets comprehensively, providing a centralized hub for all branding-related activities.
The in-editor brands experience included several features:
- Seamless Integration: We designed a user-friendly interface within the video editor that allowed users to upload their brand imagery, logo, choose colors, and select fonts without disrupting their creative process.
- Real-time Preview: Users could see real-time previews of how their brand elements would look within the video, enabling quick and informed decisions.
- Simplified Editing: Editing options for branding elements were intuitive, giving users full control over their brand's representation in their videos.
Additionally, the brands landing page showcased:
- Comprehensive Brand Management: The "Brands" landing page served as a comprehensive hub for users to upload, edit, and manage all their brand assets. Users could store multiple brand profiles for different projects.
- Easy Access: Accessible directly from Storyblocks, users could seamlessly transition between their video editor and brand management, ensuring a smooth workflow.
- Collaborative Features: We integrated collaborative features that allowed teams to collectively manage and apply brand assets.
Through both experiences, organizations were able to:
- Set brand typefaces to be used in the video creation process
- Upload logos and other on-brand imagery
- Set and establish a brand color palette
- Create a repeatable element consisting, easily used in any video project (an intro or outro, for example)
Conclusion
The integration of branding capabilities into Maker empowered our users to create videos that genuinely reflected their brand identity and decreased the time it took to establish these on-brand elements within each video created. The dual approach of in-editor branding and the dedicated "Brands" landing page ensured flexibility and convenience, allowing users to seamlessly incoporate their videos with on-brand imagery, logos, colors, and fonts without sacrificing the speed and simplicity of video creation.
User feedback for this initiative was overwhelmingly positive. We saw a rapid adoption of the new feature, in addition to users reaching out with even more ideas to further enhance its capabilities.