Transforming a Video Pioneer in a Crowded Market

Role: Director of Product Design

Duration: 3 years

As the Director of Product Design at ooVoo, I led a shift to focus on what users truly needed beyond video calls. I built a talented, collaborative design team across three countries and fostered a culture of creativity and user-focused problem-solving. Together, we redefined how ooVoo could better connect with and serve its users.

The Goal

ooVoo’s Mission in Redefining Connections

When I joined ooVoo, the company had a strong foundation. We had over 40 million users and a solid reputation in video chat. But the landscape was changing quickly. Skype was still in the mix, but the real disruption was coming from mobile-first platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. These apps were changing how people communicated and setting new expectations for what video chat should feel like.

We knew adding more features wouldn’t be enough. Our mission needed to go deeper. We wanted ooVoo to feel like a space where people could share meaningful moments with the people who mattered most. Video calls were just one part of the experience. What we were really building was a way for people to feel close, connected, and present in each other’s lives.

That vision gave us clarity. But before we could bring it to life, we had to face some pretty big internal challenges. We knew the product had to evolve, and so did the way we worked.

Driving User-Centered Innovation, Collaboration, and Strategic Design Leadership

My Role

  • Develop and lead the design experience strategy

  • Recruit and hire a diverse Design team to support multi-platform experiences

  • Reduce technical debt and refocusing on user-driven priorities

  • Transform design strategy to be user-centered

  • Established cohesive design principles

  • Foster cross-functional collaboration between product, design, and engineering partners

We knew that simply refreshing features wouldn’t get us where we needed to go. To stay relevant, we had to move away from a technology-first mindset and focus on the people using our product. That meant understanding who they were, what they cared about, and how we could design something that felt truly useful and meaningful in their lives.

To help drive this shift, I built a distributed team of product designers across New York, Israel, and Canada. Each team member brought a unique perspective, and I worked to align their strengths with the areas that had the greatest impact. This helped us stay focused, motivated, and connected to the work that mattered most.

Alongside product and engineering partners, we established a user-centered strategy and built stronger ways of working together. We introduced clear design principles that gave us a shared foundation, brought consistency to our experiences, and helped us respond more thoughtfully to user needs.

By fostering collaboration across teams and encouraging creative thinking, we set a new direction for ooVoo and built the kind of momentum that real transformation requires.

Addressing Market Demands and Internal Growth Challenges

Key Challenges

  • Increased competition

  • Commoditization of video technology

  • Need for product diversification and evolution

  • Risk of user attrition

  • Meeting user expectations

Market & Customer Challenges

  • Technology first, users second

  • Monolithic codebase limiting platform flexibility

  • Technical debt and product misalignment

  • Limited design presence

  • Inconsistent user experiences

  • Engineering-Design disconnect

Organizational & Product Challenges

To really understand what we were up against at ooVoo, you had to look at the full picture. On the surface, we were in a crowded space where video communication had become the norm. Almost every platform was offering it, and many were already delivering a better experience. The competition was fierce, but the more pressing challenges were inside the company.

ooVoo had a technology-first mindset. Most decisions were based on what we could build, not on what people actually needed. That disconnect often led to experiences that felt out of step with everyday use. On top of that, we were tied to a monolithic codebase that made it hard to evolve the product or respond quickly to change.

Design came in too late in the process, after major decisions were already made. That created a ripple effect of inconsistencies and made it tough to deliver something that felt cohesive or intentional. The handoff between design and engineering lacked alignment, which slowed us down and led to a fragmented product experience.

Rather than seeing these issues as blockers, we saw them as opportunities to do better. We started to shift how we worked. One of the biggest changes was moving to a modular architecture, which gave us the flexibility to iterate faster and respond more directly to user needs. That shift also helped reduce technical debt, which had been weighing us down.

We took a closer look at the features we were offering and let go of the ones that weren’t adding real value. Then we doubled down on the ones that truly mattered. That focus allowed us to build something that felt not only functional, but meaningful—something that helped people connect in ways that felt real.

ooVoo’s Shift to User-Centric Growth

My Impact on Enhancing User Experience and Platform Flexibility

  • User-centric Approach

  • Mobile-First Strategy & Platform Optimization

  • Agile and Iterative Development

  • Modular Architecture & Technical Evolution

  • Data-Driven Decision Making

Key Factors of Success

As we began to transform ooVoo, the most important shift was putting real focus on our users. Instead of piling on features, we asked what would make ooVoo feel like a natural and valuable part of their everyday lives. That shift led us to prioritize a mobile-first experience, knowing that our users were relying more and more on their phones to stay connected.

To support this direction, we had to break free from old limitations. One of the biggest challenges was the monolithic codebase. It was holding us back. So we split the product into separate iOS and Android apps. This gave us the ability to optimize each experience for the platform it lived on. Performance improved, but just as importantly, we could respond more quickly to what users needed.

On the cultural side, I partnered closely with product and engineering to move toward a faster, more flexible way of working. We adopted an iterative approach that included rapid prototyping and real-time feedback loops. This helped us stay aligned with user expectations and encouraged the team to think in terms of continuous improvement.

The impact of these changes was significant. Over the course of two years, we added more than 100 million registered users. People were spending a billion minutes a month on video calls. In markets like Japan, growth skyrocketed with a 974% percent increase in new users. All of this happened because we stayed focused on the people we were designing for and worked together to create something that truly resonated.

Empowering Personal Narratives

Creating Space for Expression and Real Connection

  • Customizable storytelling

  • Fostered personal storytelling and engagement

User Profiles with Personal Stories

As we dug deeper into user feedback, it became clear that people were looking for more than just a way to talk. They wanted something personal. The real opportunity was helping people express who they were and feel a stronger connection in the process.

We moved away from basic, functional profiles and created something more expressive. Each profile became a space where users could share moments, moods, and memories. It was designed to feel real, not polished. A place where people could show up as themselves.

This shift helped ooVoo grow into more than a video chat app. It started to feel like a community. A space where people could share their stories and build genuine connections. That emotional layer made the experience more engaging and meaningful.

Enabling Seamless Communication

Making Everyday Conversations More Flexible

  • Introduced messaging beyond live calls

  • Supported text, photo, and video snippets

  • Integrated ooVoo into daily user routines

Asynchronous Messaging and Interactions

To help people stay connected in a way that matched their daily lives, we introduced asynchronous messaging to ooVoo. This gave users the option to share messages even when they weren’t available for a live video call.

People could now send quick texts, photos, or short videos whenever it was convenient. These updates fit naturally into their routines, making ooVoo feel more flexible and approachable.

The goal was to remove the pressure of needing to be online at the same time. By supporting more casual, on-your-own-time communication, we made it easier for users to stay close to the people who mattered most.

Elevating Video Experiences

Collaboratively Shaping ooVoo into a Platform for Stronger Connections

Interactive Backgrounds and Visual Enhancements

  • Personalized video call experiences

  • Added creativity and self-expression

  • Boosted engagement with visual effects

We wanted video calls on ooVoo to feel more fun, more expressive, and more personal. To support that, we added interactive backgrounds and visual effects that gave people new ways to show up in their own style.

These features let users share their mood or personality in a way that felt natural and playful. It made conversations feel less like formal calls and more like shared moments.

The result was a more dynamic experience that helped people connect in ways that felt both real and memorable. Calls on ooVoo started to feel less like tools and more like something to look forward to.

New Design Team Shapes ooVoo's Multi-Platform Future

I shaped a new design team structure for multi-platform expansion

To support the broader transformation of the product, I restructured the design team. At the time, we were small and spread across platforms, working in isolated Agile pods. It was clear we needed a more connected way of working.

We shifted to a unified team structure that allowed us to stay aligned around a shared vision. Designers gained visibility into the full user journey, not just their specific slice of the product. This helped us deliver more cohesive experiences and made it easier to collaborate across platforms.

By working this way, we created stronger connections between product, tech, and design. It made the team more agile, more thoughtful, and better equipped to support the future we were building.

Building a Product Users Love

Listening Closely and Designing with Intention

  • User interviews

  • App store review feedback

  • Guerrilla usability testing

  • Social media monitoring

  • App Store Optimization (ASO)

  • Moderated usability testing

Mixed Methods Research

We didn’t rely on guesses or assumptions. We made it a priority to listen. Working closely with our product and marketing partners, we launched a full discovery process to better understand our users.

This included interviews, app store reviews, guerrilla usability testing, social media monitoring, and in-app feedback tools. All of it helped us see the full picture. We learned what users were struggling with, what they cared about most, and what they wanted us to improve.

In some cases, the insights surprised us. App store reviews pointed out friction we hadn’t noticed, like navigation challenges in key areas. Rather than just patching those problems, we took a step back and looked at how we could improve the entire experience. Staying close to user feedback helped us make thoughtful, impactful changes that truly resonated.

Unifying Design Across Platforms

Building a Unified Brand Experience Across Devices

  • Platform-specific design

  • Cohesive brand identity

  • Streamlined design delivery

User Profiles with Personal Stories

To make sure ooVoo felt familiar no matter where someone used it, I led the effort to create a unified brand identity across platforms. This wasn’t something we could do once and forget. It required ongoing collaboration, a shared vision, and a close attention to detail.

We built platform-specific design systems that allowed us to stay consistent with the brand while adapting to the strengths and patterns of each device. This helped us deliver an experience that felt intuitive, polished, and uniquely ooVoo, whether users were on a phone, tablet, or desktop.

By streamlining design delivery and reinforcing brand consistency, we made it easier to ship high-quality work and helped users feel more connected to the product.

Driving a Unified Design Culture

Streamlining Workflows and Communication for Team Growth

  • Daily stand ups and documentation

  • Cloud-based tools for project management and reporting

  • Centralized communication platform for team collaboration

  • Regular collaboration meetings to review and critique work

  • Clear project boundaries and objectives

Process Improvements

To support stronger collaboration, I focused on building a team culture grounded in clear communication and shared purpose. We introduced daily standups, consistent documentation practices, and regular critique sessions to keep everyone aligned and involved.

These rhythms made it easier for team members to share ideas, give feedback, and stay connected to the work happening across the board. We also brought in cloud-based tools for project management and communication, which gave us a single place to stay organized and informed.

This structure helped break down silos and created a smoother, more transparent workflow. The result was a more focused and collaborative team that worked better together and delivered with more consistency.

Improving Communication Across Disciplines

Creating Alignment and Reducing Friction Across Teams

Setting High-Level Expectations for Collaboration

  • Streamline development

  • Pre-launch refinement

  • Open and early feedback sharing

  • Alignment with Executive Leadership

Diving Deep into Project Execution

To bring design, product, and engineering into closer partnership, I focused on building a culture of open communication and shared goals.

I worked to remove silos by setting clear expectations early and creating space for open, honest conversations. Everyone on the team, from designers to engineers to product managers, had a voice. We encouraged feedback early in the process, which helped us surface ideas sooner and catch issues before they slowed us down.

When we aligned on objectives from the start, we avoided miscommunication during execution. That clarity gave the team more confidence, helped us move faster, and improved the quality of the work we delivered.

In the end, this approach helped us operate with more focus and unity. It brought better outcomes for the product and created a stronger sense of collaboration across every part of the team.

Happy and Empowered People Drive Success

Empowering the team to excel and deliver

Empowered team collaboration and growth

People

Process

Streamlined workflows for efficiency

Strong collaboration with key stakeholders

Partners

Product

User-focused design that drove engagement

Even though ooVoo was eventually acquired and phased out, the impact we made during that time was real. We added 100 million new users and built a platform that reimagined how people stay connected.

At the heart of that success were four key areas that shaped everything we did — people, process, partners, and product. We created an environment where the team felt supported, where collaboration came naturally, and where the work had meaning. It was never just about hitting goals. It was about building something we believed in.

What stands out most from that journey is the growth we experienced together. I’m proud of the work we did, but even more proud of the relationships we built along the way. Many of the people I worked with at ooVoo are still close collaborators today, which says a lot about the kind of culture we created.