Redesigned messaging from the ground up

A new kind of messenger

Typical messengers just don't allow enough nuance and tone, meaning gets lost. Frankly took texting to the next level by adding the power to communicate with more than just words, pictures and simple emoji.

Frankly takes advantage of the full screen width, color depth, and rich typography that modern phones support to provide an immersive, more emotional and rich messenger.

Simple gestures were added to allow more control and nuance through color and text size.

My role

• Product strategy & team management

• IA, wireframes and interaction design

• Visual design and brand management

• User testing

Acting as both Product and UX director I managed our product roadmap, task boards and ran daily standups for the whole team.

I was a participating member and manager of our design team of 3, across all wireframing, interaction design, mockups, design specs and asset creation.

I also oversaw and executed all our user research and testing efforts.

Reinventing the product

The premise: Texting and MMS interfaces have remained relatively the same since the days of IRC.  Message on the left, then one on the right, stacked. Some are in bubbles; text is small. Nuance, tone and emotion are lost in text, and we can do better than just adding emoji.

My solution: Take advantage of screen size, resolution, typography, color depth and gestural interfaces of our mobile devices today. We can add tone, voice and intent to messaging and make the experience fun, engaging and more immersive!

Words with volume and tone, and 2 interface patents

After sketching up the new concepts, I worked with developers to create prototypes that built consensus and excitement throughout the company. 

Results:  two design interface patents were submitted.  Direct Manipulation of Text Size While Typing and Color Change Over a Field With Directional Preview Reticle.

A new brand for a new messenger

Frankly needed a rebrand to push the story further and connect with the right audience.

I hired and managed an outside firm to assist with the work. Together we transformed the product from an office messenger to a young, fun, bold brand

Applying the brand to the product, went deeper than just a new color palette, fonts, and a logo. We applied the same liveliness and fun of the brand to the layouts and interactions.

And of course we had to make T-shirts!

Native Android and iOS interfaces

To keep Android and iOS releases in lock-step, our design process included designing interfaces that feel right on each platform.  The controls, navigation and headers were customized for Android and iOS in tandem.  Here’s a sample page in the new design across both platforms.

Testing, measuring, and improving

We created metrics dashboards and watched usage and engagement like a hawk with each release and feature change. We also performed A/B tests in the live product, and got out of the building for guerilla usability sessions with users on the street and in the mall.

In one multi-week A/B test we achieved a 20% increase in total multimedia sent per active user (a leading indicator of engagement and lifetime value), by testing the following 4 designs.

The details matter

The winning design had a simple 3 button view with fewer options up front and a multimedia drawer with more options and details when opened.
 

And the user creativity poured in...

People created and shared their own take on having rich, beautiful conversations in Frankly.
 

Beyond novelty

Beyond the fun and novel personalization of messages, Frankly has the potential to take advantage of its unique interface to add another level of utility that other messengers don’t have.

Here are some of the experimental explorations.
 

Time and size scaled search when scrolling fast. Utilizes size and color for rapid recall while scanning.

Automatic saving of addresses, phone numbers, and manual addition of saved messages to a filterable media drawer. Long press to share.

Pinchable interface to zoom and scale media granularity

In their words