A premium content platform featuring curated articles by leading creators, offering reliable guidance and entertainment in an era of misinformation.
A premium content platform featuring curated articles by leading creators, offering reliable guidance and entertainment in an era of misinformation. Building a more literate, enlightened society through redefined content curation.
Based on comprehensive survey findings, I identified three critical truths that shaped my approach:
Using Lean UX methodology to move fast within a 3-month MVP deadline, we built kumparanPlus around a consistent Atomic Design system spanning the full core experience, content discovery, premium paywall, subscription, and payment, prioritizing Gopay to keep scope tight, and validating every major decision through usability testing before launching simultaneously across mobile site, iOS, Android, and desktop. The result: a Gold Medal for Best Paid Content Strategy and 500% subscriber growth within six months.
Challenge
Objective
Given our tight timeline, I leveraged the Lean UX framework to provide structured guidance throughout the entire product development lifecycle. This methodology enabled me to systematically define requirements, execute design iterations, and document every critical step from initial concept through final production.
I chose the Lean UX Framework specifically because it perfectly aligned with our aggressive three-month timeline and agile development approach. This framework facilitated rapid iteration cycles, continuous validation with real users, and quick decision-making—essential elements for delivering a successful MVP within our constraints.
The framework's emphasis on collaborative design, minimal documentation, and early user feedback allowed the team to stay focused on delivering value while maintaining design quality and user-centered principles throughout the development process.
To understand the competitive landscape and identify opportunities for differentiation, I conducted a comprehensive analysis of key players in the premium content space. This research helped me define kumparanPlus's unique value proposition and feature set.
The analysis revealed a significant market opportunity—none of the major media platforms in Indonesia had established a comprehensive premium content ecosystem at the time, making kumparanPlus a pioneering solution in this space.
Based on my research insights, I formulated key questions to guide my design decisions and ensure I address the most critical user needs.
Media is broken (click feeds, SEO writing, pop up ads) while social media creates the illusion of expertise.
How can users enjoy content according to their preferences without interruption?
Millennial and Gen Z are curious a lot. They love to consume high quality premium content for getting insight, updated information and also entertainment as well as self development.
Too Many Conflicts triggered by misinformation and disinformation as a result of an illiterate society.
How can users trust the content to be consumed?
I defined the platform scope and objectives to ensure comprehensive coverage across all user touchpoints and establish clear technical requirements.
Scope of Platform:
Objective:
User Job:
I mapped out the complete user journey from initial discovery to content consumption, identifying key touchpoints and decision moments throughout the subscription flow.
The user flow chart details the subscription and payment process, including decision points, alternative paths, and system responses to ensure a seamless user experience across all scenarios.
To ensure focused execution within my tight timeline, I established clear design priorities and mandates for the MVP, defining the essential screens and flows that would deliver maximum value to users.
With clear mandates established, I developed a comprehensive design strategy that would guide my execution from information architecture through component design, ensuring consistency and efficiency throughout the development process.
Each page is defined with information tailored to user preferences based on user survey insights as well as insights from across divisions.
To accelerate my design process within the tight timeline, I adopted a component-first approach rather than traditional low-fidelity wireframing. This strategic decision allowed me to build reusable design patterns from the start.
❌ Lofi Wireframing the Ideation
✅ Reusable UI Components for Ideation
I leveraged Atomic Design methodology to create a scalable component system. By utilizing existing atoms (basic UI elements) and composing them into molecules (functional components), I ensured design consistency while dramatically reducing development time. This approach allowed me to iterate quickly while maintaining a cohesive visual language across all screens.
Design System Approach: By exercising the existing UI atoms and components, I was able to create new molecules that maintained visual consistency while looking fresh and purposeful. This strategic reuse accelerated my design-to-development handoff and ensured pixel-perfect implementation across all platforms.
Following my strategic foundation, I moved into the design execution phase, creating key screens that would bring the kumparanPlus vision to life. Each design decision was informed by my research insights and prioritized for maximum impact on the MVP launch.
The catalogue page serves as the main entry point for users to discover premium content collections. I designed a responsive layout that showcases content categories with visual appeal across app, mobile site, and desktop platforms, ensuring seamless browsing regardless of device.
Content categories allow users to explore curated collections based on their interests. The design emphasizes visual hierarchy and clear content organization, making it easy for users to find and engage with topics that matter most to them across all platforms.
The collection detail page provides in-depth information about content packages, highlighting the value proposition and featured articles. This page plays a crucial role in converting users to subscribers by showcasing the quality and breadth of premium content available.
The paywall is strategically positioned to interrupt users at a critical moment when they're engaged with premium content. This design approach creates urgency while clearly communicating the value of subscribing, with options displayed across all platforms to maximize conversion opportunities.
The subscription landing page presents a clear comparison of pricing tiers with highlighted benefits and savings. The design uses visual hierarchy to guide users toward the best value option while maintaining transparency about pricing, duration, and benefits across all subscription levels.
The payment process was designed for maximum transparency and ease of use. The flow guides users through package selection, payment method choice, transaction completion, and success confirmation. Each step provides clear information about costs, payment options, and what to expect next, reducing friction and building trust throughout the checkout experience.
After completing the initial design execution, I conducted usability testing with real users to validate my design decisions and identify potential friction points. This critical validation phase revealed key insights that would inform my iterative improvements before the final MVP launch.
Users have difficulty finding the trigger for going to the kumparanplus from mobile site home page also in desktop site.
The kumparanPlus platform is now live and accessible across multiple platforms, providing users with premium content and exclusive features. Experience the full implementation across all devices:
Timeline of projects:
With limited time, I was required to think more strategically when dealing with this process, starting from searching for data, correlating insights across divisions, and testing the prototype to maximize the product which was my responsibility to deliver properly.
Utilizing The User Interface:
I utilized the existing UI design to maximize it into new component groups, but not entirely new ones—just making them look fresh. This approach was necessary because creating completely new components would significantly affect the development timeline.
Product remains under control:
I must continue to dedicate myself to continuously monitor the product, gathering more insights to ensure the suitability and quality of the product through ongoing iteration.
We successfully launched in Q2 2021, and we continue to make improvements to this product by studying direct data, fixing bugs, implementing minor and major enhancements until the product reached its current state.
In Q3 2021, kumparanPlus received the Best Paid Content Strategy (Gold Medal) from the Asian Media Award. The impact increased the company's revenue by $10 million.
I learned a great deal from this process, particularly the importance of collaboration in building something impactful. Strategic thinking proved essential in achieving our definitive goals and delivering meaningful results.
I'm always excited to collaborate with teams and individuals who value thoughtful, user-centered design. If you're hiring, or have a project in mind, let's talk.
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