The brief already had an answer
Imagen was where customers stored and shared finished media. Competitors offered version control, and sales kept hearing requests for it. The brief was to add it to the PRO and GO platforms.
I led the design, starting with a question: what did customers actually mean by a version? Internal interviews gave us an initial answer, but I wanted to see how people worked before committing to it.
The missing step was almost finished
Task observation, interviews and wireframe walkthroughs revealed different needs. Customers already used tools such as Frame.io for production drafts. Inside Imagen, they were creating extra records and attaching media to work around the limits of the platform.
The gap was near-final media: work that needed a small change and formal sign-off before publication. A logo adjustment or a wording change could involve people outside the creative team. A list of previous files would only solve part of that problem.
Designing the last mile
I mapped the workflow around three roles: the uploader, the reviewer and the admin. Creators needed to share a version and act on feedback. Reviewers needed to approve the content. Admins needed to check the record, metadata and access before release.
I used storyboards and usability testing to refine those handovers, then documented the designs for PRO and GO. Version history became part of a review and approval flow, with a clear current version and a record of the decisions behind it.
A feature request became a new offer
The work gave Imagen a role earlier in the content lifecycle, helping customers move near-final media through review and into their archive.
- Of versions created since launch
- 2 petabytes
- After two years on the roadmap
- RFP closed
- From the paid versions add-on
- New revenue
The research also established personas for marketing and product, and a new way of working in the product team.
The important shift happened before the interface: understanding the work around a file changed what we needed to build.