Airtime, originally built for live, performative social media, had reached an engagement plateau, prompting a need for innovation. The product pivot introduced Cantina, a new experience centered on user-created AI characters that could interact in both real-time and asynchronous multi-user environments. This shift required a seamless, intuitive AI design process, ensuring characters felt rich in personality and human-like behavior, with the goal of increasing MAUs by 200% and improving 30-day retention rates to 70%.
To support this transformation, the team undertook a multi-platform redesign across iOS, Android, and Web, modernizing the web client to match mobile feature parity. Additionally, Cantina wasn’t just a functional pivot—it represented a strategic brand evolution, necessitating a fresh identity that captured its innovative vision.
My Role
I operated as both an IC Lead and Design Manager, reporting to the Chief Product Officer and working closely with our CEO Sean as well as product and engineering leads. I also executed design asks as a principal designer.
Purpose
The goal was to create a new kind of AI experience where multiple people could engage together, making interactions with AI feel more social, connected, and human.
Outcome
While still in a semi-closed beta, the early data is promising, with MAUs seeking a spike and 30-day retention rates at 50% and climbing, while the average session time has nearly tripled.
Multi-Faceted Leadership
I balanced strategic leadership with hands-on design contributions. As the design team lead, I set the strategic direction and as a product manager, aligned our efforts with key business objectives. Additionally, I served as a brand architect, shaping the Cantina product's identity from its inception and integrating it seamlessly into our offerings.
Empowering Design Talent
Building a strong design team starts with supporting people, listening first, and leading by example. I created a collaborative environment by focusing on each team member's growth and success. Clearly communicating tasks and goals ensured clarity and alignment, enabling the team to consistently exceed expectations.
A design ladder framework provided clear paths for development, while regular feedback sessions celebrated wins, addressed challenges, and aligned future goals. These efforts boosted confidence, creativity, and innovative design solutions.
Crafting Cantina's Design Ethos
At Cantina, I established a design philosophy rooted in three core pillars: user-centric focus, iterative creation and evaluation, and cross-disciplinary collaboration. By placing the user at the center of every decision, fostering a culture of continuous prototyping and validation, and uniting expertise from diverse fields, I cultivated an environment that empowered team members to innovate confidently, balancing creative risks with user-driven insights.
User Research
I led a focused research initiative with our UX research team to deeply understand user behavior, expectations, and pain points. This included moderated interviews, usability testing, and surveys that uncovered critical gaps in Airtime’s user experience, particularly around onboarding and engagement. We translated these findings into actionable insights, which I regularly shared with the executive team to drive strategic alignment. Based on this, I worked with product and design teams to reimagine core user flows, validating improvements through targeted A/B tests that led to measurable gains in activation and retention.
Shaping the Next Generation of Bot Interaction
The design process kicked off with a dual-platform focus on iOS and Android, aiming to redefine the product's future. Outdated features were eliminated to streamline functionality, and onboarding underwent a significant revamp for a smoother user experience. Key innovations included dynamic bot creation, integration of bots into real-time group environments, and the launch of a public bot directory, enabling users to explore bots without account creation.
User research made it quickly apparent where there were features that were either not fully understood by the user, and features that actually hindered their goals. The product was then tightened as a result of this by removing of underperforming features and streamlining others.
These updates collectively set the stage for a modern, user-centric bot ecosystem.
Modernizing the Web Experience
Power users gravitated toward the web client for its extended usability, motivating us to modernize the entire web experience. We aligned the platform with mobile features and used the additional screen space to improve the layout and interaction during live, group interactions. This approach ensures a seamless and optimized user journey across all devices.
Measuring the Success of Cantina's Design Overhaul
For the private beta, we prioritized three metrics: user engagement, feedback, and growth. We tracked session durations, active users, and feature adoption, while App Store reviews and customer feedback revealed satisfaction. Conversion and churn rates highlighted growth. Early results showed promising trends, confirming the redesign's positive impact.
