Player Redesign
Reimagining the listening experience from a passive playback tool into a modular, community-driven platform that balances seamless listening, meaningful participation, and future interaction models.
Where did this come from?
As Podimo expanded its investment in community and creator-led engagement, the player became increasingly fragmented. Playback, queue management, comments, reactions, and episode details all competed within the same surface, creating friction for listeners and limiting future scalability.
Research and concept testing revealed a consistent tension: users valued lightweight ways to react and participate, but community features often felt disconnected from the listening flow.
A modular listening experience that balances seamless playback and meaningful participation, transforming the player from a passive consumption surface into an intentional engagement platform.
My role
Lead Product Designer
I owned the end-to-end redesign vision for Podimo’s player experience across listening, community, and discovery.
Before
A single overloaded player surface where:
Playback, queue, comments, reactions, and episode management competed simultaneously.
Community interactions felt secondary and noisy.
Navigation patterns lacked clarity.
After
The Player: A modular listening experience built around clear user intent, separating playback, participation, and navigation into focused surfaces.
The Community Experience: Comments, polls, and creator prompts become contextual parts of the listening flow, while reactions evolve into bridges toward deeper participation.
Impact & Results
Comment insertion experiment: ~30% uplift in comment viewing
Community NSM: grew 35% year-over-year during the period, demonstrating strategic value of the community direction.
Live streaming: shipped on the new player foundation, with creator testing underway.
New player redesign: launched in May 2026 with gradual rollout, monitoring user reviews.
Disclaimer: the case study will evolve after collecting more data and insights as the features were recently launched.
Get in touch to hear more about the process!