The tST production company

The Serious Type Production Company (TST) is a nonprofit based in Carbondale, CO, USA, focused on uplifting youth through authentic creative expression and a deeper relationship with nature. TST supports a community of multidisciplinary artists and participants engaging in film, art, music, and writing.

I joined this project as Design Lead, collaborating closely with a cross-functional team of 12 across research, content, product, and development. Our goal was to design the MVP platform experience from scratch — enabling artists to share their creative process, mentor youth, and collaborate intentionally.

Problem

TST wanted to build a platform that mirrored their values: authenticity, community, and purpose-driven creativity. Existing social platforms felt too transactional, lacked depth, or didn’t foster the type of reflection and connection TST envisioned.

We needed to design an MVP that allowed:

  • Artists to share behind-the-scenes creative progress
  • Youth and peers to offer and request mentorship
  • Meaningful, two-way collaboration based on purpose—not popularity

Roles & Responsibilities

Design Lead, working alongside 4 UX designers within a larger 12-person product team

  • Defined product vision and scope with stakeholders
  • Led wireframes, high-fidelity design, and style guide creation
  • Partnered with content strategists on IA and terminology
  • Supported research team with usability testing and competitive analysis
  • Facilitated weekly client reviews and sprint demos

Duration

8 weeks, Agile, weekly sprints

The Team

Team of 4 UX designers in a product team of 12

Tools Used

Figma, Figjam, Notion,Slack, Vowel, LettuceMeet

View Research & Ideation File

Research and Discovery

We began by identifying TST's unique user types:

  • Artists: Experienced creatives looking to share, reflect, and mentor
  • Participants: Emerging creators seeking guidance and inspiration

We partnered with the research team to define "How Might We" statements and reviewed over 50+ platforms in a competitive audit. A few key insights emerged:

  • Artists crave honest feedback, but existing platforms don't facilitate vulnerability
  • Collaboration is often ad hoc — there's no clear way to express or find partnership needs
  • Terms like "feed" or "profile" carry baggage from social media and needed reframing

Information Architecture & Style Guide

I collaborated with content and product to restructure IA, aligning it to user goals rather than generic categories.

We created a style guide rooted in TST’s mission: minimal, warm, and grounded in nature. This was important in establishing trust with users and distinguishing the platform from commercial social networks.

Onboarding Flow -MVP

Simple, purpose-driven onboarding that surfaces artists' values and collaborative intent.

hi-fi Designs

Prototypes reflected TST’s ethos: clean design, soft typography, and space for meaningful content. I designed to invite reflection, not competition.
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usability testing

Patricipants

3 people who:

  • Have a creative practice
  • Have shared their work online
  • Did not participate in earlier interviews

Mode‍

Moderated usability tests for 30-40 minutes with each participant.
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Questions

Participants reflected on which TST feature they found uniquely valuable over and above what they were currently using for sharing their work.

  • What did users expect to see based on the title/name of the section?
  • What did users expect ti be able to do once they were there?
  • How might users integrate this feed back into their work?

'Open to Feedback' feature

An opt-in badge artists could use to signal they’re open to constructive critique.

  • "I think it's really useful. If I were to make this post, I'd want to let people know that you are welcome, to be honest about the work"

'Feed' feature

The term 'feed' was confusing to all participants

  • "In the feed, I'd expect to see things that ..Patty, in this instance, would like to see their feed of other people's projects"

'Opportunities' feature

A space for artists to express their collaboration or mentorship needs — inspired by open calls but reimagined for creative peers. We learned the term "opportunities" felt vague and iterated on clarity through UX writing and layout cues.

Pain points:

  • The term opportunities was found to be too general and open-ended, which led to different expectations.

"I feel like it would be good again as it is opening up a dialogue. For marketing purposes..establish a little more awareness about what you do..what you provide."

Updates After Usability Tests

what next

next

wedding registry