Context
Shorthand customers were spending significant time manually styling each story to match their brand. Enterprise clients especially needed consistency across hundreds of stories published by different team members.
How might we help teams maintain brand consistency while reducing the time spent on repetitive styling tasks?
Process
- Interviewed 12 enterprise customers to understand their branding workflows
- Audited existing styling patterns across 500+ published stories
- Mapped the information architecture of brand elements (colors, fonts, logos, spacing)
- Prototyped multiple approaches: presets, AI-assisted, and full theme builder
- Tested with 5 customers, iterated based on feedback
Solution
A comprehensive theme builder that lets teams define their brand once and apply it everywhere. Themes include typography scales, color palettes, logo placement, and spacing—all customizable through a visual interface.
Outcomes
- 40% reduction in time spent styling new stories
- Enterprise adoption increased by 25%
- NPS for brand consistency improved from 32 to 58
Learnings
- Starting with constraints (limited options) actually helped users get started faster than unlimited flexibility
- Preview in context was essential—abstract color pickers weren't enough
- Teams wanted to share themes across workspaces, which we hadn't anticipated