OVERVIEW
IconScout is an asset marketplace offering over 9 million icons, illustrations, 3D models, and Lottie animations. To enhance usability, it also provides a range of tools and plugins, with one of the most popular being the Iconscout Plugin for Figma.
The Iconscout Plugin has not undergone a significant update in the past three years, leading to inconsistencies with the constantly evolving IconScout platform. Users have reported issues such as increased bugs and a subpar experience. Despite offering a vast number of assets, our daily usage rates have not met expectations, especially compared to our competitors.
MY ROLE
As a Product Designer this project was under my ownership that includes, discussions with stakeholders, research, defining timeline, designs and data tracking. Our team consists of :
Gaurav Kumar (Product designer)
Akshaj Balaji (Frontend Engineer)
Michael Tea (Backend Engineer)
Project duration : 7 months (including development)
RESEARCH
After discussing the project scope with the team leadership, they were optimistic about the product's potential but uncertain about the ROI (Return on Investment). Given our lean team and the large scale of this project, which will span two quarters, I need to justify the ROI to the CEO and team.
Through competitive analysis, we examined our competitors’ metrics and offerings. Additionally, we conducted three user interviews and reviewed all feedback related to the Iconscout Plugin to understand user needs. We gathered all this data and conducted a comprehensive audit with the entire design and product team.
PROJECT TIMELINE & PHASES
After our research, the team and stakeholders agreed to implement 17 new features and updates in four phases. As the project owner, I'm responsible for defining timelines from design to development and coordinating with cross-functional teams like visual, content, SEO, and marketing. I also need to ensure efficient use of each individual contributor's bandwidth.
Phase 1 (2 months) :
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Introducing Guest Mode requires minimal design and offers high impact, enabling immediate development post-phase one.
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The SEO team is onboarded early to ensure better long-term outcomes.
Phase 2 (2 months) :
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Low effort High impact features
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Drag and drop, product page, color palette, conversion banners.
Phase 3 (1 month) :
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Adding affordance (UI specific)
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Onboarding, educative tooltips, Filters, my collection and downloads.
Phase 4 (2 months) :
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Research based new Heavy feature
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Reverse Image search, 3D gltf rotation, SVG to Lottie
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
DESIGNS
This project includes 17 feature updates, ranging from minor to significant. Discussing each feature in depth would be too lengthy and irrelevant here. Therefore, I will focus on the features that best showcase my visual and problem-solving skills and have the most impact.
GUEST MODE
Our research showed that the plugin's login wall was a barrier for new users. To reduce this resistance, we introduced a Guest mode, allowing users to explore the platform without logging in. This change significantly boosted plugin usage, as the numbers confirm.
ONBOARDING AND EDUCATION
Due to the lack of proper onboarding and tutorials for core features, we introduced a new splash screen and onboarding process to help users quickly understand the product.
PRODUCT PAGE
The product page was the most challenging, as we had to create it from scratch. Previously, a popup appeared when users clicked on a listing to select the format.
In the new product page, we incorporated 3D rotation for 3D assets, added a color palette feature, and included scrollable packs. These elements are visible enough to suggest similar assets without distracting from the main asset. Following up with CTA to insert assets.
IMAGE SEARCH
Having a source of inspiration is great, but sometimes you need it in vector or animation. Now, it's incredibly easy to explore and convert, ensuring the process remains minimal and efficient.
COLOR PALETTE
Since the color palette is one of the most popular features on the web but was missing from the plugin, we decided to integrate it. We reimagined the user journey to fit this feature into a shorter window, enhancing the overall experience.
PRODUCT VIDEO
Watch it on YOUTUBE
DATA ANALYTICS
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228% increase in MAU (Monthly active users)
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178% increase in User Retention
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Rank 22 Figma Plugin previous rank 63
- The first phase of this project was released in June 2023, introducing Guest Mode. This made exploration much easy for users.
- Last phase was released just before Winter vacation thats where you can see a dip.
- There are bigger spikes at specific places these are marketing launches.
Our initial SEO efforts worked out well as the data seems growing even after winter holidays.
What if we hadn't undertaken this project?
We would have faces around 200K less usage of Plugins which would lead to loss in user and revenue.
FUTURE PLANNINGS
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Scaling Internally : As per what stats says we we are confident to move this plugins update to all 12 products and 3 Desktop applications.
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Scaling Externally : We learnt at lot on funnel creation and we will be scaling this to all the plugin system of LottieFiles.
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Kit Illustration : Kit based Illustration Kit which user can change specific instances to create new Kits.
LEARNINGS
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Incentivize Engagement : Offer rewards as users progress deeper into the funnel.
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Consistency & Scalability : Build a platform that maintains consistency and can scale across all verticals.
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Encourage Exploration : Keep the platform open for user exploration.
THANKS FOR READING ✨