CASE STUDY 03 · SOCIAL · MOBILE

Journey: help creators launch a paid community from day one.

Journey is a social app built around shared interests. I led the design of the community setup flow: how a creator builds, customizes and monetizes a community from scratch.

PROBLEM

Creators couldn’t easily earn from their communities.

MY ROLE

UX/UI designer, 8 weeks. Led the flow end to end.

KEY DECISIONS

Monetization inside setup
Explain, don’t hide
Design out anxiety
Fewer payment options

OUTCOME

A seamless onboarding experience for creators.

the problem

Creators on Journey had no easy way to set up a community and earn from it. Without that, they had little reason to bring their audiences over.

THE BUSINESS GOALIncrease creator activation and retention by making it easy to launch, personalize and monetize a community from day one.

my role

A survey of 25 creators and 10 interviews
Problem definition with the team
The end-to-end setup flow
Mid-fi wireframes and usability testing
High-fidelity design and UX copy
The design system

01RESEARCH

talk to the creators

Our opportunity: influencers and people already running WhatsApp and Facebook groups. I surveyed 25 and interviewed 10.

Most found other platforms hard to monetize.
Almost all wanted more ways to get paid.
They wanted help running their community like a business.

WHAT THIS MEANTMonetization couldn’t be an add-on. It had to be part of setup.

02MAP THE FLOW

one guided flow, from idea to launch

I mapped every step a creator takes, from naming the community to choosing privacy, setting up payments and inviting people.

Flow chart of the full community setup flow — **The full setup flow.**

03TEST MID-FI

watch people use it

I built the flow in mid-fidelity and ran usability tests. People got stuck in the same places: privacy options, numbered steps that felt like paperwork, and a payment screen with too many choices.

Mid-fidelity screens for community name, topic, header and icon — **Mid-fi:** setting up the basics.

Mid-fidelity privacy and discoverability screens — **Mid-fi:** privacy, where people got stuck most.

Mid-fidelity subscription and donation screens — **Mid-fi:** payments mixed with charities.

04WHAT CHANGED

what testing changed

Put monetization inside setup, not after it

THE INSIGHT: Creators wanted help running their community like a business.
WHAT I DID: Made pricing part of setup: paid, tips or free, with a dropdown for context.
WHY: Creators can launch a paid community the same day.

Monetization options: old design next to new — **Monetization:** old design (left) and new.

Explain choices instead of hiding them

WHAT TESTING SHOWED: Privacy was where people got stuck most, asking what each option meant.
WHAT I DID: Added a short explanation to each option and moved discoverability into a lighter drawer.
THE BALANCE: More detail, while keeping the screen minimal.

Privacy screen: old design next to new — **Privacy:** old design (left) and new.

Design out anxiety

WHAT TESTING SHOWED: Numbered steps made people anxious, and the formal copy felt cold.
WHAT I DID: Swapped numbers for a gradient bar and rewrote the copy to sound like a friend.
WHY: Setup should feel exciting, not like paperwork.

Progress bar: old design next to new — **Progress bar:** old design (left) and new.

Cut options to make paying simple

THE PROBLEM: Mixing payments with charities made a simple choice complicated.
WHAT I DID: Cut charities and offered weekly, monthly or one-time payments, with a (?) for detail.
THE TRADE-OFF: Less on the screen, but a decision creators can make in seconds.

Subscription screen: old design next to new — **Subscriptions:** old design (left) and new.

05FINAL DESIGNS

final designs

The mid-fidelity flow we tested, next to the final design.

Setting up the basics

Before: mid-fidelity screens for community name, topic, header and icon — **Before:** mid-fi. Numbered steps, generic screens.

After: final screens for community name, topic and header — **After:** the community’s identity builds as you go, with a gradient progress bar.

Privacy and discoverability

Design system

outcome

The result is a seamless onboarding experience: one guided flow that takes a creator from idea to a launched, paid community, with monetization and customization built in from the start.

“Aish led the entire process.”Luke O’Brien, VP Growth & Marketing at Journey

What I learned

Research told us what to build: monetization had to be part of setup. Testing told us how: the refinements came from watching people get stuck on real screens. You need both. If it shipped, I’d measure how many creators finish setup and how many launch a paid community.

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