Experience across entertainment, e-commerce, ticketing, live sports and social
Aligning design with business goals: Make sure the design strategy delivers value to both the business and the user.
Creating innovation culture: Foster creativity & experimentation, and establish processes for continuous improvement.
Driving user centric design: Incorporate user feedback and create products that meet user needs.
Effective team management: Set clear goals and mentor team members to align with the design strategy.
Facilitating cross-functional collaboration: Ensure design considerations are integrated into all aspects of product development.
Have a mindset to evolve
Technology is ever evolving and a designer needs to evolve with it. Iteration is an important step of the design process that shouldn’t be skipped. “You will not be happy with your 1st iteration, but you cannot make your 100th, till you make your 1st” So get on with it!
Ask Why
Most important question in my mind to solve any problem. Might be directed to the end user, the business stakeholders or your team. I believe every design process starts with this question and the answer to this questions most times informs the design strategy.
All feedback is good feedback
In my mind there is no bad feedback. Any feedback we get via data, research, or reviews is helpful and useful if we know what to do with it.
Challenge
Fandango’s ad-supported catalog had limited content and low viewership. The business wanted to expand the offering and grow advertising revenue.
My role
Partnered with Merchandising, Product, Design, and Engineering to understand the incoming catalog, shape how it would be presented, and assess technical feasibility.
Key decisions
Created a dedicated landing page for free content.
Removed the sign-in requirement so viewers could start watching sooner.
Introduced a distinct “Free to Watch” brand to make the offer easy to recognize.
Outcome
Within three months, viewership increased 80% and ad revenue increased 14%.
The business goal was to create and launch a new Fandango subscription product becoming the digital home for movie and entertainment fans. The KPIs for this initiative were:
Drive revenue growth, Recurring revenue
Increase share of wallet & customer loyalty
Drive Peacock subscription growth
Enhance studio & exhibitor relationships
One of the key business initiatives was to combine Fandango ticketing service and Fandango at Home streaming service into one entity. One way to achieve this goal was creating a shared identity of all our users and enabling them to use single sign on. As a PX team we had to first learn how the backend system would work to achieve this. We identified use cases for this feature and defined experiences and flows for each of them. As a result all of our existing users got to use a single login for both services, new accounts created were for both services, and people already having both accounts got to merge them to create a single login. Thus inching closer to having one service to meet our users entertainment needs!
Peacock is NBCU’s subscription based streaming service whereas Vudu is NBCU’s transaction based streaming service. Company goal was to leverage users across these services to incresae engagement & conversion rate. The task at hand was to promote some of the Peacock content on Vudu and link Vudu users to go to Peacock. Our team identified a few ways to do this on all our platforms. We designed a showcase of Peacock preview and also designed flows to crosslink users over to Peacock either via global navigation or within a specific title. We were able to grow Peacock subscriptions with this endeavor.
Vudu was acquired by Fandango. And at the same time the Roku app had to be rebuild with a new codebase. We took this opportunity to refresh the Vudu style guide & improve the user experience of the most used Vudu app. The redesign included a brand new design system and hence a brand new look, improved navigation and user interaction, introduction to Roku pay and easy to read content layout.
Fandango owned 2 streaming services - FandangoNow and Vudu. Having 2 services was redundant & hence the company goal was to migrate all of the FandangoNow accounts to Vudu. This project involved working with the backend team to understand architecture, and working with the CRM team to figure out messaging strategy on every platform. Our team designed the flows to migrate all of these accounts as seamlessly as possible. Within a year most of the active FandangoNow accounts were migrated, hence increasing the Vudu user base.
The merchandising team had worked with studios on deals we could offer our users. We had to build a feature where a user could select a set number of titles from a set number of titles offered at a flat price. The challenge with this project was that none of the variables were fixed. The design had to be scalable so that any number of titles could be offered in a bundle from which any number of titles could be selected. This project involved coming up with a different UI to make this selection. And this interaction had to be designed for all devices. This feature turned out to be one of the most valuable offerings to our prime users. I received a patent (US 29/613,063) for this design.
The culture shapes how people interact and work together, and the right team dynamics reinforce and strengthen the culture. A positive team culture attracts and retains talented people, who, in turn, contribute to a successful design team. A leader who understands this dynamic can create an environment where both individual team members and the team as a whole can succeed.
As a design leader, my goal is to maintain a healthy culture, invest in people, and ensure a high-functioning team which is key to producing outstanding design work and driving business success.
“Shital is a 100% absolute pleasure to work with! Her patience and effective management style is also complimented by a high proficiency for execution and a great eye for viable user experience. She can design, manage people, manage projects and lead with an ear to ear smile that has both her direct reports and managers empathetically appreciate every working moment with her! I’d happily work with Shital again in a heartbeat and recommend her to anyone who asks.”
“When I work with Shital as my UX manager. Professional, intelligent, and kind, are the keywords I learn from her each day. She is not only the expert on the product that helps the design team to run amount of design requirements but also generous enough to step into any tasks when she’s needed. She shows a lot of support and makes me felt confident and encouraged. Shital is absolutely a valuable asset to any team.”
“I’ve had the pleasure of working with Shital for 4 years, ever since Vudu joined Fandango. In that time, I’ve been impressed by her talent, thoughtfulness, and leadership skill. She is on the ball!
Shital has a wonderful philosophy of management, taking ownership and fostering her team’s ability to perform like a well-oiled machine. She’s diplomatic and strategic, with a knack for focusing on key issues. When it comes to complex design projects, Shital makes it look easy to drive what needs to be done forward, even in the early stages when there’s a lot undefined. She had the patience and focus to lead migration projects (across a dizzying number of TV, web, and mobile app platforms, no less) and navigate substantial constraints, while making sure users get the best possible messaging and experience.
I’ve always appreciated Shital’s helpful feedback, from process ideas to make meetings more effective, to suggesting exactly the right microcopy to make it crystal clear what a button does.
Personally, Shital is warm, flexible, kind, and always willing to lend a hand. When we chat about design, managing, and life in general, I come away with great new perspectives. I strongly recommend working with Shital if you get the chance!”