For two years I worked on the creation of Riffle, a web app for NYC-based startup Odyl. They had a Facebook page publishing platform used by all of the “Big Six” publishers, and wanted to create a new platform for readers.
Identity
The project kicked off with several weeks of discovery. I led brand strategy, naming exercises, user experience, and visual design. In contrast to the loud and awkward book sites in the market, I aimed for a quiet and stylish experience where book covers played the starring role and action paths were clear.
User Research
I interviewed target users about their reading habits, and used usability tests throughout the process.
Design & Development
We proceeded in an agile fashion, with two- or three-week sprints for each set of stories. In each sprint I’d research and design new features, build approved designs from the previous one, and debug or improve published code. The site is fully responsive, has its own custom icon font, and taught me way too much about Facebook’s API.
I created investor demos, print/digital ads, and other marketing materials as needed. I also designed and built a suite of Tumblr themes for their 15 category editors, with Twitter pages to match.
Before I left, I converted the massive LESS stylesheet to modular Sass partials, made an HTML/CSS style guide for all reusable elements, compiled a master Illustrator file with all their common assets, and trained a new designer/developer to replace me.
