Overview
Muck Rack is a growth-stage media relations SaaS platform beloved by the industry. I led design of a dashboard feature and spearheaded the creation of a design system to support a scaling product.
My contribution
Senior product designer
The team
1 x product manager
1 × product designer
2 × engineers
Year
2020 - 2021
Process
Props to Eva for not only designing Dashboards over the last year but also introducing a new design process as part of this work that is already allowing us to approach features in a more collaborative and impactful way!
—Darya Roshikina, Product Manager (Apr 7, 2021)
My design process is user-centered and adapts to the evolving needs of the business. Integrating developers into design was how we were able to deliver a product customers consider a "best friend" and an invaluable tool.
Impact
Adding data from multiple sources to dashboard widgets allow users to compile key data and report on PR efforts. The launch of dashboards and additional product iterations, led to revenue growth from $21M reaching $50M in two years.
Amazing job launching dashboards into beta with 100 customers! In the short term this will make us even more competitive ... For the long term this sets the foundation for how we show the impact of maintaining good journalist relationships on earned media results.
—Greg Galant, CEO and co-founder (Feb 2, 2021)
Challenges
Applying filters to multiple data sources.
Tech debt. We were a team that shipped fast working with Bootstrap v3.
No staging environment for beta testing. We were launching straight into production.
Problem
Preliminary research indicated users were conducting most of their work off-platform.
From an internal survey of 1,000+ PR professionals:
64% of PR teams reported that any form of quantifiable measurement is a top challenge.
71% said measuring business impact is their number one challenge.
Solution: Dashboard Widgets
Early concepts proposed widgets populated with data users had already saved as part of their research efforts. These widgets allowed users to compile key data and produce customized executive reports.
Outcome
Muck Rack’s launch of Dashboards in 2021 and ongoing iterations, enabled PR teams to measure success and demonstrate the value of their work to stakeholders and executives.
I collaborated with Engineering, involving the CTO, to prioritize a design system that uses an edited set of brand colors to achieve consistency and convey hierarchy in an increasingly complex application.
Thank you for your informative presentation on the importance of Design Systems to the tech and product teams, and for your work on building Muck Rack's own design system.
—Lee Semel, CTO and co-founder (Apr 23, 2021)
Business Impact
In 2022, Muck Rack hit $50M in revenue.
September 2022, Muck Rack secured a $180 million Series A investment from Susquehanna Growth Equity (SGE) to help scale the platform.
Securing this funding makes it possible to support continued growth as the product evolves to focus on enterprises and deliver the customizable tools they need to drive their business forward.
Key Results
EFFICIENCY
Saved customers 15+ hours weekly;
Reduced media list creation time by 50%.
UX IMPACT
Led transition to automated platform;
Enhanced product usability.
COLLABORATION
Integrated developers into design;
Inspired cross-functional UX adoption.
HAPPY CUSTOMERS
In July 2021, the team was transitioning from Cision to Muck Rack. Before Muck Rack, we could land a client in a national publication, but we couldn’t equate that coverage to dollars or show the increase in brand awareness. Now, we can say, “If you had paid for a half-page ad, it would have been $20,000."
—Maddie Caywood, Public Relations Manager at The Brand Guild
We recommend Muck Rack to other companies considering a media relations and communication platform. The user-friendly interface, comprehensive media database, and powerful analytics tools make it an invaluable asset for managing and enhancing your media outreach efforts.
—Crate & Barrel’s public relations team
Learnings
Multifaceted expertise: Design, business, and problem-solving, make for well-rounded design solutions.
Adaptability: to navigate and thrive in challenging circumstances is a significant asset in our ever-changing design field.
User-centric focus: balancing business goals with user needs, leads to impactful designs.