Project Overview
Elevating a Global Entertainment Brand Through Strategy, Design, and Collaboration
NBCUniversal.com re-launched in 2020 with a bold goal: to redefine how a global entertainment brand connects with its audience online. The vision was to deliver a fully immersive, responsive experience that not only modernized the brand presence but also unified disparate digital touch-points across the NBCUniversal enterprise.
The final product was a responsive, Drupal-based platform optimized for usability, storytelling, and SEO—featuring immersive video, branded animation, and a scalable component system.
Post-launch, the site saw a 1720% increase in user engagement, establishing a new gold standard for corporate media websites.
NBCUniversal.com
My Role
Product Design Lead · Project Manager · UX Researcher · Visual Designer
I led the end-to-end UX and UI design process, balancing hands-on design execution with strategic oversight. I was responsible for:
• Defining the visual language and interaction model
• Leading research, ideation sprints, and design workshops
• Managing internal teams and collaborating with an external agency
• Gaining stakeholder alignment
• Aligning cross-functional teams on design systems, workflows, and QA processes
• Establishing scalable systems for content management and future maintenance
• Leading research, ideation sprints, and design workshops
• Managing internal teams and collaborating with an external agency
• Gaining stakeholder alignment
• Aligning cross-functional teams on design systems, workflows, and QA processes
• Establishing scalable systems for content management and future maintenance
Team Composition
• Product Design Lead & Project Manager, UX Researcher, Visual Designer
• Staff UX Designer
• Staff Visual Designer
• External Visual Designer
• External Interaction Designer
• UX Writer / Content Strategist / Interview & Survey wrangler
• Staff Manager of Corporate Communications
• Staff Front-End Engineer Lead
• External Front-End Engineer
• 3 Staff Developers (Q/A and UAT in collaboration with Design)
• Staff UX Designer
• Staff Visual Designer
• External Visual Designer
• External Interaction Designer
• UX Writer / Content Strategist / Interview & Survey wrangler
• Staff Manager of Corporate Communications
• Staff Front-End Engineer Lead
• External Front-End Engineer
• 3 Staff Developers (Q/A and UAT in collaboration with Design)
Tools & Technology
• Figma, Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator, Human Interface Guidelines & Material Design for Ideation and Design
• Microsoft Teams, OneDrive, Slack, Jira, and Figma for Collaboration
• Microsoft Excel, Powerpoint for Project Management
• Survey Monkey, UserTesting, Google Analytics for Research
• Microsoft Teams, OneDrive, Slack, Jira, and Figma for Collaboration
• Microsoft Excel, Powerpoint for Project Management
• Survey Monkey, UserTesting, Google Analytics for Research
Final Homepage (Desktop, Tablet & Mobile)
Results
• +1720% increase in user engagement
• +1922% increase in unique views
• +1922% increase in unique views
• Centralized visual identity across NBCUniversal digital platforms
• Adoption of the visual system across external and internal products (e.g. NBCUniCareers, Travel & Expense, Thrive HR, Legal App, NBCUniCareers)
• Cost savings via reduced external design dependency
• New design and development hires integrated into a high-functioning, elevated design practice
• Brand consistency extended to enterprise-wide social media and digital signage
• Adoption of the visual system across external and internal products (e.g. NBCUniCareers, Travel & Expense, Thrive HR, Legal App, NBCUniCareers)
• Cost savings via reduced external design dependency
• New design and development hires integrated into a high-functioning, elevated design practice
• Brand consistency extended to enterprise-wide social media and digital signage
Final History Timeline
Marketing - Digital Display Screens & Social Media
The dynamic, anamorphic movement of the purple and magenta palette that I integrated within the NBCUniversal site Brands section has now been adopted across all enterprise social media branding, platforms, and marketing. My vision was to create a Brands section that feels vibrant and alive, symbolizing the breadth and vitality of all NBCU International Brands.
Sharon is one of the most exciting out-of-the-box creatives I've worked with in my career. On one hand, her flexibility, imagination and sense of fun makes her a wonderful person to work with. Whereas on the other hand, she's inventive, colorful and a natural problem-solver.
Tiffany Chi, NBCUniversal Engineering Solutions Manager
Process
My approach followed an iterative, research-backed UX design framework, grounded in transparency, collaboration, and speed. I established a repeatable workflow with Figma, Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Jira to ensure alignment across internal teams and our external agency partner.
Key Phases:
• Discovery & Research – Interviews, surveys, stakeholder alignment
• Ideation & Exploration – Design sprints, wireframes, mood boards
• Design Execution – High-fidelity prototypes, design system implementation
• Development Collaboration – Front-end + back-end integration across teams
• QA & Launch – Iterative testing, stakeholder feedback loops, detailed testing across multiple screen sizes and platforms (iOS, Android, desktop), refining layout bugs and interaction edge case issues pre-launch, SEO audits, UX team Retrospective
• Ideation & Exploration – Design sprints, wireframes, mood boards
• Design Execution – High-fidelity prototypes, design system implementation
• Development Collaboration – Front-end + back-end integration across teams
• QA & Launch – Iterative testing, stakeholder feedback loops, detailed testing across multiple screen sizes and platforms (iOS, Android, desktop), refining layout bugs and interaction edge case issues pre-launch, SEO audits, UX team Retrospective
The Challenge
NBCUniversal.com needed a modern, cohesive platform to reflect its stature as a global leader in entertainment. Prior to this project:
• The brand experience was fragmented across apps, external and internal sites.
• No UX infrastructure or process existed internally—no workflows, QA, or design systems.
• Stakeholders across multiple departments had competing priorities.
• The History section, the site’s most visited area, was outdated and underperforming.
• The search experience was inconsistent and poorly optimized for SEO.
• No UX infrastructure or process existed internally—no workflows, QA, or design systems.
• Stakeholders across multiple departments had competing priorities.
• The History section, the site’s most visited area, was outdated and underperforming.
• The search experience was inconsistent and poorly optimized for SEO.
Previous NBCUniversal.com - Homepage, History & Values
Research
During the discovery phase, I spearheaded:
• Stakeholder interviews across Marketing, Talent, Legal, HR, and Tech
• Internal surveys to identify pain points in navigation, CMS usability, and branding gaps
• Audience research and analytics reviews to prioritize high-traffic areas (e.g. Careers & History section)
• Competitive audits of peer brands and award-winning entertainment and technology experiences
• Content and Features audit of current (old) site
• Card Sorting for Navigation, Sitemap, Content hierarchy
• Card Sorting for Navigation, Sitemap, Content hierarchy
Team Card Sorting
Content Strategy
Our main content goal was to utilize only the most engaging and visually compelling show and programming imagery while authentically reflecting NBCU's culture. The original site featured photo formats that varied widely in size and shape, so we reduced the number of templates by 50%, streamlining site maintenance and creating a more cohesive, unified look. Content priorities were organized into clear “Gold, Silver, and Bronze” categories to guide visual hierarchy and storytelling.
Design & UX Wins
Brand Unification – I introduced a cohesive visual system
• Consistent color palettes, type styles, interaction patterns
• Modular UI components and onboarding flows reused across NBCUniversal app
Responsive, Platform-Adaptive Design
• Well-versed in designing and optimizing mobile experiences for both Apple (iOS) and Android platforms, ensuring seamless performance across screen sizes, device types, and operating systems.
• Consistent color palettes, type styles, interaction patterns
• Modular UI components and onboarding flows reused across NBCUniversal app
Responsive, Platform-Adaptive Design
• Well-versed in designing and optimizing mobile experiences for both Apple (iOS) and Android platforms, ensuring seamless performance across screen sizes, device types, and operating systems.
• Proactively refined interaction details and resolved platform-specific bugs during QA and UAT to deliver a polished, cross-device experience at launch.
UX Process Implementation
• Created UX folder structures, file-naming conventions, and a formal QA workflow
• Led cross-team alignment on design specs and documentation
• Created UX folder structures, file-naming conventions, and a formal QA workflow
• Led cross-team alignment on design specs and documentation
Engagement- Boosting Features
• Sticky navigation with NBCU branding for seamless wayfinding
• Modular UI components and Immersive video carousels and branded animations in the Hero area
• Revamped History section with animated storytelling and curated legacy content
• Sticky navigation with NBCU branding for seamless wayfinding
• Modular UI components and Immersive video carousels and branded animations in the Hero area
• Revamped History section with animated storytelling and curated legacy content
SEO & Discoverability
• Optimized metadata, indexing, URL structure, and in-page search
• Collaborated with engineering to implement SEO-friendly content hierarchy
• Optimized metadata, indexing, URL structure, and in-page search
• Collaborated with engineering to implement SEO-friendly content hierarchy
Cross-Team Leadership
• Bridged internal back-end (Drupal) and agency front-end developers
• Modular Managed feedback loops with high-level stakeholders, including SVP of Corporate Communications
• Bridged internal back-end (Drupal) and agency front-end developers
• Modular Managed feedback loops with high-level stakeholders, including SVP of Corporate Communications
Design Exploration
With a solid product and market fit already in place, one of my first tasks was to align the visual design with the global brand. We explored several different design directions including button patterns, fonts and color palettes. The explorations resulted in a fresh and bright new visual language.
Initial Homepage Prototype & Layouts
Color & Font Explorations
UX Sitemap & Wireframe Samples
The biggest challenge I faced throughout this project was balancing forward progression of my internal team's visual designs and user flows, whilst collaborating with cross functional teams and the external interactive agency designers and engineers. Using Figma, Jira, Microsoft Teams and OneDrive as our main design & development collaboration tools, I guided and contributed hands-on to the full design cycle. Since this project touched every part of our business, I needed to coordinate and get buy‐in from many stakeholders. Managing feedback was more challenging because it felt like a constant evolution of viewpoints. Design principles and the content prioritization framework helped to create visibility into my decision‐making process and unify the teams to share in the vision.
Insights & Reflections
Clear structure and visibility = stakeholder trust. The detailed project roadmap I created helped manage feedback across multiple departments, preventing derailments.
Process maturity is a competitive advantage. Introducing formal UX workflows improved both design quality and delivery speed.
Flexibility is key. Balancing business, brand, and technical needs required adaptability and diplomacy—especially when coordinating between agency and internal engineering teams.
Unified systems scale faster. The design language established here is now reused across internal tools, saving future teams time and resources.
Final Thoughts
This project was not just about launching a website—it was about creating a scalable, brand-consistent digital ecosystem for one of the world’s largest entertainment companies. By embedding UX into every phase of the project and building a collaborative design culture, we delivered an exciting product that elevates the brand, and positioned NBCUniversal for long-term digital success.
