Product Designer Exercise

Background
Playbuzz is a storytelling platform used by premium publishers and brands worldwide for editorial and commercial purposes to author, distribute and monetize interactive stories that drive audience engagement.
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The challenge
Playbuzz was building a content platform, and the challenge was to transform a traditional article into an engaging, story-driven experience while preserving the original editorial structure and intent. The solution needed to be designed specifically for mobile, using Playbuzz’s existing storytelling controls as part of the experience.

The solution

The article selected was a movie review of Trolls aimed at parents deciding whether the film was appropriate for children aged 6 and up, with the ultimate goal of encouraging theater ticket purchases.

To inform the experience, I interviewed parents of 6+ year-old children to understand the factors that influence their content and viewing decisions. Based on these insights, I designed and refined interactive storytelling elements—including click-to-flip, a personality test, and quotes—redesigning the controls to better support engagement, clarity, and mobile usability.

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My role

I owned the end-to-end design for this product exercise, starting with user research to ground decisions in real parent needs. At the time, I didn’t have children myself, so interviewing parents of 6+ year-old kids was essential to understanding how they assess age-appropriate content and make viewing decisions.

I translated these insights into wireframes and interaction flows, then developed a visual concept that remained consistent with the original article’s brand while elevating it with rich, mobile-first visuals. As part of the experience, I also redesigned Playbuzz’s storytelling controls to improve usability, engagement, and narrative flow.