UX & Strategy
Adrennial 2.0: Designing a Platform Worth Staying On
Adrennial 2.0: Designing a Platform Worth Staying On
Role: UX and Product Strategy Lead (via Blue Label Labs) Stage: Growth Domain: Adventure content and community, mobile Outcome: Two user types. One product. Neither experience was working. I redesigned both.
Role: UX and Product Strategy Lead (via Blue Label Labs) Stage: Growth Domain: Adventure content and community, mobile Outcome: Two user types. One product. Neither experience was working. I redesigned both.
Two user types. One product. Neither experience was working. Adventure creators had somewhere else to go and a very good reason to stay there. I introduced on-platform monetization, giving creators a way to earn directly from their audience, and redesigned the full experience around it. New onboarding, a discovery-first home screen, a creator toolkit built for people who'd rather be on a mountain than at a desk. Adrennial stopped competing on exposure and started competing on ownership.
Two user types. One product. Neither experience was working. Adventure creators had somewhere else to go and a very good reason to stay there. I introduced on-platform monetization, giving creators a way to earn directly from their audience, and redesigned the full experience around it. New onboarding, a discovery-first home screen, a creator toolkit built for people who'd rather be on a mountain than at a desk. Adrennial stopped competing on exposure and started competing on ownership.
The Real Problem
The Real Problem
Most content platforms are built around watching. Adrennial had a different opportunity: its users don't just want to watch someone hike the sequoias. They want to hike the sequoias. The gap between those two things is where the product had been leaving value on the table.
The redesign started with a simple question. What if the platform understood not just what you were into, but what you were working toward? That one shift changed how onboarding worked, how content was structured, and what it meant to save something.
Most content platforms are built around watching. Adrennial had a different opportunity: its users don't just want to watch someone hike the sequoias. They want to hike the sequoias. The gap between those two things is where the product had been leaving value on the table.
The redesign started with a simple question. What if the platform understood not just what you were into, but what you were working toward? That one shift changed how onboarding worked, how content was structured, and what it meant to save something.
Onboarding
Onboarding
Onboarding
Most apps ask what you like. Adrennial asks where you are with it. The onboarding goes three levels deep: activity, subcategory, then motivation and capability. A weekend hiker and a backcountry skier at pro level are not the same user, even if they follow the same creators. By the time you finish, Adrennial has enough context to introduce you to the right Vision Partners immediately and build a feed that actually fits.
Most apps ask what you like. Adrennial asks where you are with it. The onboarding goes three levels deep: activity, subcategory, then motivation and capability. A weekend hiker and a backcountry skier at pro level are not the same user, even if they follow the same creators. By the time you finish, Adrennial has enough context to introduce you to the right Vision Partners immediately and build a feed that actually fits.
Home feed and creator economy
Home feed and creator economy
Home feed and creator economy
The feed surfaces content around your declared interests and intelligently pushes adjacent material as your taste develops. But the more considered design decision was the gifting model. Instead of ad revenue distributed invisibly by an algorithm, Adrennial lets fans send tokens directly to a creator or to a cause the creator supports. The platform becomes a place where the people doing the most interesting things in the world can be funded directly by the people who want to do those things too.
The feed surfaces content around your declared interests and intelligently pushes adjacent material as your taste develops. But the more considered design decision was the gifting model. Instead of ad revenue distributed invisibly by an algorithm, Adrennial lets fans send tokens directly to a creator or to a cause the creator supports. The platform becomes a place where the people doing the most interesting things in the world can be funded directly by the people who want to do those things too.
Content as a trip planning tool
Content as a trip planning tool
Content as a trip planning tool
Every piece of content on Adrennial has four layers: the video itself, a location tab with a real map and points of interest, a gear tab with the exact products used and direct purchase links, and a Q&A tab where you can ask the creator anything. Watching someone fly fish in Alaska is also research for your own trip. The content detail page was designed to hold both of those things at once.
Every piece of content on Adrennial has four layers: the video itself, a location tab with a real map and points of interest, a gear tab with the exact products used and direct purchase links, and a Q&A tab where you can ask the creator anything. Watching someone fly fish in Alaska is also research for your own trip. The content detail page was designed to hold both of those things at once.
The bucket list
The bucket list
The bucket list
The feature that changes what kind of product this is. Save a piece of content and it becomes part of a trip: videos, gear lists, and points of interest all organised around a destination. Backpacking In The Sequoias stops being a screenshot in your camera roll and becomes a living document you can actually execute from.
The feature that changes what kind of product this is. Save a piece of content and it becomes part of a trip: videos, gear lists, and points of interest all organised around a destination. Backpacking In The Sequoias stops being a screenshot in your camera roll and becomes a living document you can actually execute from.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Adrennial's challenge wasn't design quality. It was design priority. The platform had been built without a clear answer to why a serious creator would choose it over a platform with a bigger audience, or why an enthusiast would come back once the novelty wore off. The redesign answered both questions with the same logic: make the platform useful for what people are actually trying to do, not just what they're trying to watch.
Adrennial's challenge wasn't design quality. It was design priority. The platform had been built without a clear answer to why a serious creator would choose it over a platform with a bigger audience, or why an enthusiast would come back once the novelty wore off. The redesign answered both questions with the same logic: make the platform useful for what people are actually trying to do, not just what they're trying to watch.
Munch Citi
Mobile Application
Adriennial
UX/Strategy
Stabilitas
SaaS
Additional Work
Additional Work
Additional Work
