I joined another team
at VK to create
Breakout rooms,
new feature for VK Calls
I joined another team
at VK to create
Breakout rooms,
new feature for VK Calls
I joined another team at VK to create Breakout rooms,new feature for VK Calls
*
*online video conferencing service
*online video conferencing service
*online video conferencing service
Years
2022-2023
Role
Product Designer
Platforms
Web, Mobile, Desktop
Result
From 0 to 4500 MAU
Platforms
Web, Mobile, Desktop
Web, Mobile,
Desktop
Result
From 0 to 4500 MAU
From 0
to 4500 MAU
Platforms
Web, Mobile, Desktop
Result
From 0 to 4500 MAU
About
Project goal
Create a feature for VK Calls to enable seamless group collaboration, attracting new users and boosting group calls
It's important to stay in the loop with other teams at your company. It makes transitions smoother and allows you to reuse their successful solutions.
It's important to stay in the loop with other teams at your company. It makes transitions smoother and allows you to reuse their successful solutions.
Why we needed it
Users struggled with managing discussions in large calls. They needed a way to split participants into smaller groups.
It's important to stay in the loop with other teams at your company. It makes transitions smoother and allows you to reuse their successful solutions.
It's important to stay in the loop with other teams at your company. It makes transitions smoother and allows you to reuse their successful solutions.
Impact
Boosted user engagement, and made VK Calls more competitive for remote work and learning
It's important to stay in the loop with other teams at your company. It makes transitions smoother and allows you to reuse their successful solutions.
It's important to stay in the loop with other teams at your company. It makes transitions smoother and allows you to reuse their successful solutions.
Challenges
1. Team integration
Faced skepticism about my grasp of the product’s complexity in a new team
It's important to stay in the loop with other teams at your company. It makes transitions smoother and allows you to reuse their successful solutions.
It's important to stay in the loop with other teams at your company. It makes transitions smoother and allows you to reuse their successful solutions.
2. Several iterations
My initial design aimed for simplicity but proved to be too time consuming during user testing
It's important to stay in the loop with other teams at your company. It makes transitions smoother and allows you to reuse their successful solutions.
It's important to stay in the loop with other teams at your company. It makes transitions smoother and allows you to reuse their successful solutions.
3. Development delays
Limited resources stretched development over several months, requiring continuous coordination
It's important to stay in the loop with other teams at your company. It makes transitions smoother and allows you to reuse their successful solutions.
It's important to stay in the loop with other teams at your company. It makes transitions smoother and allows you to reuse their successful solutions.
Imagine you're a product designer at VK,
a large Russian social network with 100 million MAU.
One day, a manager from another project desperately asks for your help.
The nuance is that you have never worked on this project before.
A challenge, huh? Are you gonna take it?
Imagine you're a product designer at VK,
a large Russian social network with 100 million MAU.
One day, a manager from another project desperately asks for your help. But you have never worked on this project before.
A challenge, huh? Are you gonna take it?
Imagine you're a product designer at VK,
a large Russian social network with 100 million MAU.
One day, a manager from another project desperately asks for your help. But you have never worked on this project before.
A challenge, huh? Are you gonna take it?
Imagine you're a product designer at VK,
a large Russian social network with 100 million MAU.
One day, a manager from another project, desperately asks for your help. But you have never worked on this project before.
A challenge, huh? Are you gonna take it?
Imagine you're
a product designer at VK,
a large Russian social network with 100 million MAU.
One day, a manager from another project, desperately asks for your help. But you have never worked on this project before.
A challenge, huh?
Are you gonna take it?
VK Calls
VK Video
VK ecosystem
VK Calls
VK Video
VK ecosystem
On my way!
We need help!
VK Calls
VK Video
On my way!
We need help!
VK Calls
VK Video
What am I dealing with?
Project: VK Calls, an online conferencing service
Project: VK Calls, an online conferencing service
Project: VK Calls,
an online conferencing service
It’s a part of VK social network. The number of monthly active users is 20 million. It’s fast and completely free, but many users of VK were still not familiar with it.
It’s a part of VK social network. The number of montly active users is 20 millions. It’s fast and complitely free, but many users of VK were still not familiar with it.
Business:
aims to grow the audience and increase group call usage
Team:
is skeptical that a new designer can grasp product’s complexity
Users:
prefer other platforms, even ready to pay for subscription
Together with the UX researchers, we interviewed teachers. Why teachers? They conduct lessons online — it’s a great opportunity to raise VK Calls’ group calls.
Together with the UX researchers, we interviewed teachers. Why teachers? They conduct lessons online — it’s a great opportunity to raise VK Calls’ group calls.
Together with the UX researchers, we interviewed teachers. Why teachers?
They conduct lessons online — it’s a great opportunity to raise VK Calls’ group calls.
Teachers
Teachers
Teachers
Want to split participants into smaller
groups for collaborative work
Want to split participants into smaller groups for collaborative work
Want to split participants into smaller groups for collaborative work
Students
Students
Students
Want to practice their new knowledge more during a lesson
Want to practice their new knowledge more during a lesson
Want to practice their new knowledge more during a lesson
Insight
Teachers
need a break!
a break!
Breakout rooms
A feature that will allow call administrators to split participants into small groups to practice
Brainstorming how should
Breakout rooms work
With our findings in hand, I organized a brainstorming session to prioritize the key functions for the first release.
We needed to concentrate on what’s was crucial to create a smooth experience for both administrators and participants, and at the same time make sure that all the features won’t cause difficulties during the development.
With our findings in hand, I orginized a brainstorming session to prioritize the key functions for the first release.
We needed to concetrate on what’s was crucial to create a smooth experience for both administrators and participants, and at the same time make sure that all the features won’t cause difficulties during the development.
With our findings in hand, I orginized a brainstorming session to prioritize the key functions for the first release.
We needed to concetrate on what’s was crucial to create a smooth experience for both administrators and participants, and at the same time make sure that all the features won’t cause difficulties during the development.
Uer flows
Creation of Breakout rooms
VK Calls' UI relies heavily on modal windows for extra features like screen and video sharing, so I chose the same approach to maintain consistency
UX challenge:
how to assign participants to rooms?
UX challenge: how to assign participants to rooms?
My first design concept aimed to be simple and user-friendly
Reuse of existing panel
Simple layout
The interface is visible
Too many buttons
Separate modal windows
However, user testing showed that yes, the flow
is an easy to understand, but very time consuming
However, user testing showed that yes, the flow is an easy to understand, but very time consuming
Easy to understand
Too time-consuming
Back to basics:
single modal window for all settings
Back to basics: single modal window for all settings
Determined to improve, I developed a new solution,
and now the assignment can be done within one window
Determined to improve, I developed a new solution, and now the assignment can be done within one window
All settings in one place
No extra windows
Fast and easy assignment
All settings in one place
No extra windows
Fast and easy assignment
All settings in one place
No extra windows
Fast and easy assignment
All settings in one place
No extra windows
Fast and easy assignment
This was a game-changer, which significantly reduced the number of clicks and saving valuable user's time
VK Calls team:
VK Calls team:
VK Calls team:
“We're concerned it will take time for you to get up to speed with the product”
“We're concerned it will take time for you to get up to speed with the product”
Dealing with professional distrust is stressful.
What helped me?
Facing distrust as a professional is stressful. What helped me?
Dealing with professional distrust is stressful. What helped me?
By the time I joined the project, I already knew a lot about their technical constraints, failures and successes, team processes. And all these I got just by listening and paying attention to what my colleagues say.
By the time I joined the project, I already new a lot about their technical constrains, failures and successes, team processes. And all these I got just by listening and paying attention to what my colleagues say.
Exploring projects
in Figma
Being interested
not only in visuals, but in reasons, process and results
Talking
to other
designers
on design reviews
Paying attention
Paying attention
Paying attention
Asking PM
about other projects
Painfully long implementation
The development process was divided into three phases, stretching
over several months due to resource constraints. I kept in constant touch with the development teams, conducting reviews and providing solutions for unexpected technical issues, and at the same time was working with my original VK Video team.
The development process was divided into three phases, stretching over several months due to resource constraints. I kept in constant touch with the development teams, conducting reviews and providing solutions for unexpected technical issues, and at the same time was working with my original VK Video team.
The development process was divided into three phases, stretching over several months due to resource constraints. I kept in constant touch with the development teams, conducting reviews and providing solutions for unexpected technical issues, and at the same time was working with my original VK Video team.
Aug
Aug
2022
2022
2023
2023
Sep
Sep
Oct
Oct
Nov
Nov
Dec
Dec
Jan
Jan
Feb
Feb
Mar
Mar
Apr
Apr
May
May
Jun
Jun
Jul
Jul
Aug
Aug
Sep
Sep
Administrators
mode on Web,
iOS, Android
Working with VK Calls team
Working with VK Calls team
Working with VK Video team
Working with VK Video team
Desktop
Desktop
Participants
mode on Web,
iOS, Android
Web, iOS, Android
Release
Release
Results
Results
Results
6
main user
scenarios
300
web & mobile screens
250
daily active users (DAU)
4500
monthly active users (MAU)
Key takeaways
Stay updated
It's important to stay in the loop with other teams at your company. It makes transitions smoother and allows you to reuse their successful solutions.
It's important to stay in the loop with other teams at your company. It makes transitions smoother and allows you to reuse their successful solutions.
It's important to stay in the loop with other teams at your company. It makes transitions smoother and allows you to reuse their successful solutions.
Validate solutions early
Testing various concepts from the start helps make informed decisions. User feedback is invaluable.
Some features take time
This project was a lesson in patience, iterative design, and adapting to new requirements and technical limitations.
This project was a lesson in patience, iterative design, and adapting to new requirements and technical limitations.
This project was a lesson in patience, iterative design, and adapting to new requirements and technical limitations.
Rooms overivew
Creating rooms
Managing rooms
