Content Studio
As a Lead Product Designer at Weedmaps, I led the end-to-end design of Content Studio, a modernized advertising content creation tool tailored for both seasoned marketers and first-time advertisers. The initiative was part of a broader effort to evolve our advertising ecosystem and empower clients to craft compelling, high-performing campaigns across Weedmaps.com.
The Challenge
Advertising on Weedmaps had evolved, but the tools available to our clients had not.
Our legacy system:
Lacked support for modern media formats like full-screen video.
Offered little creative guidance for non-technical users.
Created bottlenecks with manual ad approval workflows.
Failed to reflect the latest design standards or accessibility practices.
Dispensary owners often face challenges in promoting their businesses effectively:
Limited design experience or budget for professional graphic designers.
The need for quick, high-quality creatives to advertise deals, events, and products.
A lack of confidence in digital marketing and design tools.
We identified an opportunity to support dispensary owners by creating a self-service Content Studio.
The goal: Redesign the display ad creation experience from the ground up—introducing a flexible, intuitive tool that aligned with our new design system and could scale with the growing needs of our advertiser base.
Research & Insights
I collaborated closely with Product, Client reps, and Ad Ops to identify key pain points.
Audit the existing process to dig in on pain points and identify opportunities.
User interviews with 10 consumers (split between new and experienced users).
Quantitative analysis of campaign performance pre- and post-launch.
Design process
Design process
1. Information Architecture & User Flows
Simplified the end-to-end journey into four core stages:
Choose Format – clients select between display types (banners, tiles, video).
Create Content – upload media or build creatives with guided templates.
Preview & Validate – see real-time feedback and compliance checks.
Submit & Track – submit for approval and monitor status.
2. UI Design & System Integration
Mix of component styles from various design systems over the years makes the product appear inconsistent, outdated, and unpolished.
Standardizing components with the Muijana design system will significantly enhance usability and overall user experience.
Single design system will greatly simplify future maintenance and updates.
Built contextual education, examples, and guidance to coach clients along the way.
Ensured accessibility and compliance across UI components.
Streamline communication between clients and ad operations.
Ease friction in the approval process.
Offer data-driven insights to help clients create high-performing advertisements.
3. Introduce new formats
A brand new Impact Canvas, a high-engagement, vertical full-screen video format designed to mimic the best of social media storytelling.
Built for mobile browsing, this format brought a new level of visual share of voice to the Weedmaps experience.
New deal cards showcase a specific prodcut set and lead to a focused shopping UX.
Shift the focus of content creation to always lead with native/mobile first as 93% of traffic will see this version.
4. Collaboration with Ad Ops
Partnered with the Ad Operations team to design and implement new moderation tools that improved both quality and efficiency. Introduced content flagging mechanisms and built feedback loops between moderators and clients to resolve issues faster and with greater transparency. The redesigned workflow reduced approval timelines by 40% compared to the legacy system, enabling campaigns to launch sooner while maintaining compliance and trust.
The result
Outcome
This project was launched into a closed beta the last week on June 2025.
Projected growth in the following categories:
Customer retention
Client display ad ROI
Repeat shopper rate
Customer and client engagement
Conversion