Organizing for growth

Vox Media's Revenue Design team faced unprecedented growth, responding to 5,108 design requests—up 349% from the previous year. To manage this surge without increasing headcount, I drove strategic process improvements and developed scalable resources, dramatically improving operational efficiency and laying the groundwork for sustained future growth.

Problem

Respond effectively to exponential demand for design resources, streamline complex cross-team processes, and develop a sustainable system to manage growth without disrupting day-to-day operations or compromising quality.

Goal

Create a scalable design framework and streamlined processes that empower cross-functional collaboration, significantly reduce redundancies, and enable the design team to efficiently handle increased workloads without expanding headcount.

Results

Accelerated Productivity: Reduced average design turnaround from 3 days to 24 hours through the introduction of reusable templates.

Reduced Redundancy: Established a centralized mock repository that decreased custom mock requests from 15 per campaign to 2–3.

Streamlined Resources: Consolidated 17 reference sheets into one master reference, simplifying information accessibility across teams.

Measurable Business Impact: Faster design turnaround directly enabled quicker sales cycles, contributing to increased revenue opportunities.

Empowered and Upskilled Design Team: Conducted targeted workshops and training sessions that significantly boosted the team’s capabilities in rapid asset creation, leading to sustained improvements in design velocity.

Process and Approach

Cross-Team Alignment & Strategic Planning
Led strategic discussions with cross-functional partners—including Account Services, Sales, Ad Operations, and Vox Creative—to collaboratively identify bottlenecks and opportunities. Together, we defined clear success metrics and a streamlined roadmap.

Design Optimization & Efficiency Gains Guided the redesign of core sales materials, identifying redundant or recurring design elements. By developing standardized PSD templates, we cut the time required for a single mock-up from two hours to as little as four minutes. A comprehensive design library organized by client and category further accelerated efficiency.

Internal Enablement & Consistency Facilitated educational workshops for my team, standardizing the language for design requests and promoting best practices around smart objects, layer comps, and Photoshop exporting techniques. These trainings ensured rapid, high-quality execution of future requests.

Resource Consolidation & Standardization Led the consolidation of fragmented internal documentation, reducing 17 reference sheets into a single comprehensive master sheet. I also oversaw the creation of robust style guides to maintain brand consistency internally and externally.

Challenges & Iterations

Navigating Multi-Team Alignment:

  • Challenge: Simultaneously implementing new processes across multiple teams without disrupting daily operations.

  • Solution: Conducted focused alignment calls to clearly define shared objectives and expectations, creating unified goals that equally benefited all teams involved.

Maintaining Operational Excellence

  • Challenge: Ensuring design quality and consistency under the increased workload.

  • Solution: Instituted rigorous QA checks and provided thorough internal training, empowering team members to produce consistently high-quality outputs quickly.

Future-Proofing Resources & Ongoing Impact

  • Challenge: Making improvements sustainable and adaptable for future growth.

  • Solution: Developed flexible templates and comprehensive style guidelines that continue to serve as foundational resources, enabling quick, consistent design work and fostering ongoing productivity gains.

Conclusion

By implementing strategic process optimizations, robust internal resources, and cross-functional collaboration, I successfully navigated significant workload growth without expanding team size. These improvements not only resolved immediate operational pressures but also provided a scalable framework that has continued to drive efficiency and business success at Vox Media.

Optimizing the Sales Experience: Streamlined Pitch Deck Design

Before & After: Integrated Mock Placement
Left: Prior to redesign, mocks created by my team were inconsistently placed within RFP pitch decks, leading to visual inconsistency and longer production times.
Right: After introducing reusable templates and guidelines, mocks seamlessly integrated into redesigned pitch decks, significantly improving visual coherence and speeding up turnaround.

Establishing Scalable Design Standards: Style guides

Comprehensive Ad Format Style Guide
Created a detailed style guide defining the structure, usage guidelines, and storyboard templates for custom ad formats. This resource enabled cross-team consistency, accelerated design processes, and ensured a unified visual experience across all branded campaigns.

Implementing Versatile Design Frameworks: Mock Templates

Branded Content Pages
Finalized page designs leveraging the scalable framework, enabling rapid creation and consistency across branded content.

High-Impact Custom Ad Formats
Custom, high-impact ad units designed to drive targeted traffic and significantly boosting user engagement to meet campaign KPIs.

Native Advertising Solutions
Native ad formats seamlessly integrated within editorial content, successfully driving enhanced engagement for branded content.