Re-architecting a discovery platform into a revenue system.
This transformation focused on redesigning incentives, liquidity, and workflows to create durable economic gravity.
ROLE Principal Product Designer
FOCUS Marketplace Strategy & AI
TIMELINE 2024 — Present
New Design Advertising Revenue
$600k
Monetized visibility products launched for supply-side growth
New Gross Marketplace Volume
$8.4M
Transactional revenue layer introduced from zero
Marketplace Leads Generated
22K
Structured demand captured through integrated workflows
01 STRATEGIC FRAMING
The Inflection Point
Discovery generated engagement, but not economic retention. Post-design-boom, Pro subscribers were leaving in droves as the platform's primary utility shifted from designer-to-designer inspiration to a client-led marketplace—all while the revenue model remained static and unsupported.
Dribbble was discovery-led; value capture happened elsewhere.
Pros lacked economic leverage to scale their business.
Liquidity was uneven, leaving high-intent buyers frustrated.
100%
Transactions occurred off-platform via external DMs
-60%
Declining inbound demand reduced marketplace liquidity
-82%
High-value supply lacked structured retention strategy
-74%
Compounded multi-year decline prior to restructuring
Engagement ≠ Transactions
Traffic Contraction
Pro Churn Exposure
Revenue Contraction
02 MARKETPLACE CORE
Creating Economic Gravity
We built the foundations of a transactional ecosystem: structured projects, briefs, and integrated messaging to pull off-platform activity back into the Dribbble orbit.
MAIN PRODUCT RELEASES
-
Design overhaul on the map and list views to leverage a cleaner UX and better information hierachy.
-
Introduction of an entirely new way of claiming offers as opposed to receipt.
-
More secure login as we pivoted into a payments structure.
-
New UI based on the master rebrand.
03 MONETIZATION
Aligning Designer, Client, and Platform
Pro evolution wasn't just about features; it was about structured services and disintermediation controls that created long-term value for all participants.
-
Transforming vague requests into purchaseable service units.
-
Policies and tools designed to keep high-value transactions on the platform.
-
Moving beyond the 'side project' feel to an enterprise-grade engine.
04 MATCHING ENGINE
Optimizing Liquidity
Increasing transaction probability through structured matching. We moved from browsing and manual outreach to intent capture and guided matching.
05 AI WORKFLOWS
New Tech as Revenue Acceleration
Reducing cognitive load to increase economic activity. We integrated LLM workflows into the core marketplace experience.
-
Transforming vague requests into purchaseable service units.
-
Policies and tools designed to keep high-value transactions on the platform.
-
Moving beyond the 'side project' feel to an enterprise-grade engine.
Long-term Economic Moat
By embedding AI into the workflow and capturing intent at the source, we've moved the platform from a "nice to have" discovery tool to a "critical infrastructure" marketplace for global design talent.
+400%
-65%
94%
2.4x
Search Efficiency
Disintermediation
Brief Completion
LTV Expansion
00 1234
Operating Model
I operated as the sole product designer, embedded across a senior engineering group. Rather than managing designers, I facilitated decision velocity — aligning product, engineering, and business around system-level outcomes.
This required moving fluidly between:
• Economic modeling discussions
• Workflow architecture
• Critical UX flows
• Implementation detail with senior engineers
00 1234
Reflections
Transforming Dribbble reinforced a hard-earned insight: design can accelerate economic systems, but it cannot substitute for structural brand positioning or market perception.
The experience sharpened my instinct for leverage. I’m most effective where there is real signal — product-market alignment, or at least structural potential — and the opportunity is to redesign incentives, reduce friction, and create compounding revenue loops.
It also clarified my appetite for risk. I’m drawn to ambitious transformation work — but increasingly selective about where design can create durable advantage.