Experienced Designer, Manager,
and Successfully Exited Founder
© 2024 David Adkin. All rights reserved
As the first product design hire at Second Street, I led a complete redesign of the platform, transforming it from a feature-by-feature system into an intuitive, holistically organized user-friendly experience for local media companies. The platform empowered media outlets to create custom promotions — such as Sweepstakes, Photo Contests, and “Best of” Ballots — as well as send email newsletters and breaking news to their communities.
Our redesign focused on developing an organized taxonomy and intuitive information architecture, streamlining the interface and enabling users to embeddable contests, full page landing page contests, and newsletters effortlessly with flexible templates. This transformation helped Second Street become an essential tool for over 85% of U.S. media companies, setting the foundation for what would now be recognized as a no-code solution.
As the sole designer, I was responsible for the entire platform redesign, from creating an intuitive information architecture to designing flexible, easy-to-use templates for all of the promotions and email types. Collaborating closely with the development team, I ensured that every aspect of the platform was optimized for accessibility and ease of use.
As the team grew, I took on the role of Design Lead, mentoring new designers & design interns on the team and rebranding the platform in collaboration with the other marketing designer. I implemented design processes that enabled smooth collaboration across departments and organized weekly company-wide feedback sessions, ensuring that the product remained aligned with all aspects of the business. Working closely with the development and marketing teams, I optimized the platform’s usability and cohesiveness, positioning Second Street as an industry-leading tool for media companies nationwide.
I feel incredibly fortunate to have been given the opportunity to design a comprehensive SaaS platform right after graduating. This experience gave me a holistic view of product design, from information architecture to user experience, and provided a strong foundation in creating a cohesive, large-scale platform.
The Second Street Promotions Platform was designed to keep everything organized and accessible for media companies managing multiple campaigns. We categorized all promotion types— like Sweepstakes, Photo Contests, and Best of Ballots — into dedicated sections, making it easy for users to navigate and find exactly what they needed. Inside each promotion, we included a consistent setup and checklist, with certain items pre-checked by default to guide non-technical users through the process and ensure everything was completed properly. A central dashboard provided a comprehensive view of performance metrics across active promotions, along with insights for various email types, such as newsletters and breaking news. This streamlined setup, featuring a centralized dashboard, promotions list, and email list, enabled users to monitor engagement and manage their outreach seamlessly, all in one place.
We developed a versatile design tool within the platform, empowering media companies to create custom sweepstakes and email newsletters using adaptable templates. Users could personalize each template with their unique content, adjusting layouts and visuals to fit their brand without added complexity. Balancing diverse, branded options with simplicity was an exciting design challenge — we provided enough flexibility for each company to make the experience their own while ensuring ease of use. Each contest template was designed to work seamlessly either embedded within their website’s branding or as a standalone full-page contest, so we offered a range of options without overwhelming users. This approach allowed companies to maintain a consistent brand presence and manage campaigns effortlessly across various formats.
We introduced a new Best of Ballot contest type, designed to streamline the voting process for media companies by making it easy to create organized, categorized voting sections. Users could set up multiple categories and group them as needed, offering a customized voting experience for their audience. Leveraging AI, we automatically merged similar votes, saving hours of tedious, manual categorization that had previously been done with pen and paper. This innovation not only saved valuable time but also provided an efficient, seamless way to gather and manage community votes.
I bridged the gap between product and marketing by unifying the platform and website under a cohesive brand design, creating a seamless experience for users from first impression to daily use. I developed mockups that aligned the website’s visual identity with the platform’s interface, ensuring a consistent, recognizable brand throughout. This approach helped reinforce trust and familiarity, making the transition between marketing touchpoints and the product feel natural. Once the mockups were complete, an engineer implemented the website, bringing our unified brand vision to life.