UnitedMasters App 3.0
A phased redesign of the UnitedMasters artist app. Phase 1 restructures the navigation — the bottom tab bar (the "chin"), the persistent top region (the "forehead"), and the interactions between them. Phase 2 recommends a universal card system and a pass on broader visual elements.
A Phased Redesign of the Artist App
App 3.0 is a phased redesign of the UnitedMasters artist app. Phase 1 — already kicked off with engineering — restructures the app’s navigation: the bottom tab bar (the "chin"), the persistent top region (the "forehead"), and the page-to-page interactions between them. Phase 2 is a set of recommendations: a universal card system and a pass on broader visual elements. The slides below are the final presentation, with the context I’d normally give live written alongside them.
The deck was built to four design goals. Clarity: surface the information that matters to an artist and remove what does not earn its place. Deference: let the content lead, with the interface receding so the work stays in focus. Orientation: always make it obvious where you are and how to get back. Flexibility: a system that recomposes to fit different content, surfaces, and contexts.
Restructuring the Shell
Phase 1 reduces and clarifies the app’s structure. Bottom navigation drops to four primary destinations — Home, Insights, Music, Wallet — and secondary surfaces (Beat Exchange, Exclusives) move out of bottom-level navigation into the account menu. Page-to-page interactions get a slide / push pass for a clearer navigational hierarchy.
The Chin — Bottom Navigation
The "chin" is the bottom tab bar. The goals: simplify and reduce the tabs, improve material and UI details, refine scrolling behavior, and add the chin’s slide-down interaction. Each screen here is a live recording — Home, Insights, Music, the distribution flow, and Wallet. Use the arrows or arrow keys to step through; tap any screen to open it full-size.
The Forehead — Persistent Top UI
The "forehead" is the persistent top region that stays present as you move through the app. The goals: consistency across every touchpoint, an intuitive layout and controls, and grounding elements that keep key actions persistently accessible. Two surfaces shown in motion: Blueprint AI and the profile.
Mobile 3.0 Rollout — Measured Impact
App 3.0 shipped as the Mobile 3.0 rollout, validated with an A/B test before going to everyone. The hypothesis: the new UX would improve artist engagement and sharing without harming the core revenue-generating actions — release submissions and wallet activity. The experiment ran two sets of metrics: guardrails (a "do no harm" bar on critical actions) and success metrics (sharing behaviors we wanted to grow).
The guardrails were the deciding factor. The highest-priority one — whether artists still submitted releases — didn’t just hold the line; it improved. Wallet engagement rose sharply, cash-outs and analytics views both climbed, and milestone sharing (a key social behavior) grew. Six of eight metrics came in positive or neutral.
| Metric | Type | Control | Treatment | Lift | Significance | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Submitted Release | guardrail | 21.82% | 22.37% | +2.5% | Significant ↑ | Improved |
| Viewed Wallet | guardrail | 64.4% | 77.9% | +21.1% | Significant ↑ | Improved |
| Cashed Out Wallet | guardrail | 7.57% | 8.02% | +5.9% | Significant ↑ | Improved |
| Viewed Analytics | guardrail | 59.6% | 62.9% | +5.5% | Significant ↑ | Improved |
| Viewed Exclusives | guardrail | 45.9% | 10.7% | -76.7% | Significant ↓ | Regressed |
| Submitted Exclusive | guardrail | 0.34% | 0.27% | -22.0% | Significant ↓ | Regressed |
| Shared Masterlink | success | 12.1% | 12.1% | -0.6% | Not significant | Neutral |
| Shared Milestone | success | 2.87% | 3.12% | +8.8% | Significant ↑ | Improved |
Two metrics regressed, both tied to Exclusives: views of the Exclusives screen dropped 76.7% and exclusive submissions fell 22%. That regression was expected. App 3.0 deliberately moves Exclusives out of bottom-level navigation into the account menu (see Architecture), so fewer incidental visits to that screen is the direct downstream effect of the IA decision, not a surprise. The team accepted the tradeoff because the highest-priority guardrail — release submissions — was not harmed; it improved. Mobile 3.0 shipped to 100%.
A Universal Card System
A Phase 2 recommendation, explored conceptually rather than built. A universal card system with three archetypes — Showcase, Feature, and Editorial — composed from shared parts (image, tag, title, subtitle, CTA) and designed to scale from mobile to web through layout and content variations. Not production-ready: it needs PM input, requirements definition, and cross-functional alignment before build.
Broader Elements
The other Phase 2 thread: a pass on the broader visual system, carried into the next phase of the redesign.
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