Mixpo

Ad Server Platform

CHALLENGE

The Mixpo platform is focused around the creation and management of video ad campaigns. Advertisers and publishers use it to set-up campaigns, assemble ads, publish them, and then track analytics. The platform had grown very quickly over a short amount of time and was not able to scale to support the size of the new campaigns. At the same time, most customers worked directly with a Mixpo employee, which was very resource intensive, so Mixpo wanted to have a UI that would be easy and intuitive so most of their customers could use it themselves.

MY ROLE

Lead Interaction Designer

PROCESS

Understanding the Landscape

When I began this project I knew nothing about how online advertising worked, the stakeholder interviews and user research helped me gain a solid understanding of the industry and the needs of the users.

Stakeholder Interviews

I began by conducting a series of stakeholder interviews with Mixpo employees to better understand the industry and the challenges we were trying to solve. Many of the employees were also users of the Mixpo platform so I was able to learn about their experience using the tools.

Competitive Analysis

I looked at some of Mixpo’s key competitors to learn more about what they were doing well, what could be improved, and how they compared in their capabilities to Mixpo.

User Research

I conducted ten one-on-one interviews with current and prospective Mixpo users, representing all four user groups from both advertising and publishing. The goal of the research was to understand the flow of a campaign from beginning to end, the role of each user group within that flow, and how the Mixpo platform is used.

Journey Map

I condensed all the information into a deck and a journey map. There were many interesting findings that were valuable in the design, but the two key unexpected findings that required us to change the scope of the project.

Campaign setup really needed to be redesigned
Blink had been hired to redesign the Ad Creation tool and the Analytics dashboards, however, my research showed that the key problem area in the Mixpo platform was the Campaign Setup, this area of the platform was particularly important since all the campaign management and analytics needed the campaign to be set up correctly in order to work effectively.
The account and login structure needed to be reworked
The original system required users to create a login for each separate campaign. We needed to come up with a system where logins were individual to each user and could handle multiple accounts (brands) and campaigns.

User Stories

Leveraging the findings from the user research and the stakeholder interviews, I summarized the requirements into user stories and prioritized them based on value to the customer.

System Design

One of the biggest changes we made was to the login structure, so that each login was tied to a user rather than a campaign. To make sure everyone was on the same page, I created a glossary and diagram. Another change was the overall information architecture of the system to accommodate multiple accounts, campaigns, and ads.

Interaction Design & Usability Testing

I created wireframe prototypes in Axure of a new campaign setup flow and analytics dashboard. Then I worked with a researcher to conduct RITE testing (Rapid Iterative Testing & Evaluation), where we quickly iterated on the design and tested again after a day. The testing helped me better understand how data analysts used the data and design a more effective dashboard.

Final Deliverable

At the end of the contract with Blink, I delivered an interactive prototype and detailed specs for them to implement.

Client Feedback

“I’m really, really happy with the end product for the campaign & analytics UI. It exceeded my expectations and I’d happily recommend Blink’s work in the future. The Mixpo org is thrilled! Valentina was amazing – her ability to grasp our business and solve complex issues was impressive . True rock star. If we worked with Blink again, I’d specifically request her to be on the team.”

– Kate Reinmiller, VP of Product, Mixpo