Microsoft Start Comics & Manga Pilot | Product Design
Project Introduction
Microsoft Start is a primary content consumption platform for Microsoft users, hosting various kinds of aggregated media that includes video content, news articles, sports updates, stock market tracking and the weather. Daily strip comics (Peanuts, Calvin & Hobbes, etc) were another form of content media being tested with the US market, delivering some results in driving new organic traffic through the platform.
Opportunity Definition
In recent years, the comics industry has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry. With Hollywood investment through popular IP’s such as Marvel and DC, as well as an increasing readership in markets such as Europe, Japan, Korea and China, the industry has ballooned to a value upwards of 8 billion USD. This presented an opportunity to explore beyond serialized strip comics into longer-form graphic novel and manga series’ across a variety of markets. My work involved co-leading the designs for a north-star framework, that leverages the benefits of the Microsoft Start platform to accommodate all the needs of hosting comics for a modern, global audience.
Designing the Product Experience
My work began with deep-dive research into competitors leading the industry and identifying structural needs required to host a framework for comics (Apple Books, Inkr, Webtoon, Kindle, Tapas, Marvel). Following initial research findings, the itemized needs were mapped and iterated on alongside my Design Mentor.
These itemized needs included accounting for content entry-points, navigation affordances, an immersive full-screen reader window, progress tracking, community interactions (reactions, commenting, sharing), in-app revenue drivers (in-line ads/publisher subscription up-sells), display of series/chapter metadata, related content recommendations, content advisory notices, etc.
Wire-framing helped in mapping out the user experience flow and communicating early concept iterations amongst the team and leadership. Building atomic components allowed for consistent, efficient iterations, which I leveraged into a Proposal Prototype. The prototype was shared to the Senior VP/Head of Product Engineering, as well as the CVP of Design & Content for Windows & Devices Group at Microsoft with the intent of securing additional funding for the projects development.
Project Results
Reception of the Pilot proposal was positive, resulting in:
Leadership buy-in, accounting for $500K in new project funding to license high-caliber publisher content for the platform
Project extension, including a partnership between North America and Japanese teams to build user-ready test flights of the framework.
Project Members
Product Designer: Paul Methot
Design Supervisor: Cole Menard
Design Manager: Ross Heeter
Product Managers: Karim Raphael, Makoto Yamagishi
