Discovery
Before proposing any solutions I spent time understanding how members were actually using the library — or failing to. The pattern was consistent: members arrived with a rough idea of what they wanted (something for yoga, something short, something for recovery) but had no way to act on that intent. They'd scroll briefly, not find it fast enough, and leave.
Three failure modes emerged clearly from the research:
Can't find it — members with a specific goal (yoga, 20 minutes, intermediate) had no way to filter to it. They were forced to browse everything to find something specific.
Overwhelmed browsing — members without a specific goal needed editorial curation — categories, collections, themes — to spark interest. An undifferentiated grid killed discovery.
No way to save progress — members who found something they liked had no way to save it. Bookmarking and watch history didn't exist. Good content was found once and then lost.
These weren't separate problems. They were the same problem at three different levels of intent — and fixing only one of them would leave the others unresolved.
The Tiered Appraoch
Rather than proposing a single comprehensive redesign — which would require significant engineering resources and take months to ship — I structured the solution as three progressive tiers. Each tier addressed one failure mode, could be shipped independently, and built on the previous one. This gave stakeholders a credible path forward with flexibility on pacing and investment.
These weren't separate problems. They were the same problem at three different levels of intent — and fixing only one of them would leave the others unresolved.
Pitching the Strategy
Rather than proposing a single comprehensive redesign — which would require significant engineering resources and take months to ship — I structured the solution as three progressive tiers. Each tier addressed one failure mode, could be shipped independently, and built on the previous one. This gave stakeholders a credible path forward with flexibility on pacing and investment.
These weren't separate problems. They were the same problem at three different levels of intent — and fixing only one of them would leave the others unresolved.
The tier structure was a deliberate strategic choice. It let us demonstrate value quickly with Tier 01 (no engineering cost, immediate member benefit) while making the case for the bigger investments in Tiers 02 and 03. It also gave engineering a clear sequence to work toward rather than a monolithic spec.
On Demand
Context
Life Time's on-demand video library had a great problem: too much content. Hundreds of workout videos, wellness guides, and expert sessions — all in a single, unnavigable list. I designed a tiered feature strategy that turned an overwhelming catalogue into a genuinely useful library, sequenced by engineering complexity so it could be built in phases.
My Role: UX Designer
Scope: Discovery, research, feature strategy, wireframes, stakeholder pitch
Collaborators: Engineering
Status: Tiered roadmap presented & approved for phased build
The Challenge
Life Time On Demand had been built as a simple video repository — a place to put content, not a place to find it. That worked fine when the library was small. But the catalogue had grown to hundreds of videos across yoga, strength, cycling, nutrition, recovery, and more, and Life Time was about to gain access to a full video production studio, meaning it was about to get significantly larger.
The experience hadn't kept pace. Members landed on an endless vertical scroll with no way to filter by duration, category, instructor, or fitness level. Research confirmed what the engagement data already suggested: members would browse for a few seconds, not find what they wanted, and leave.
Discovery
Before proposing any solutions I spent time understanding how members were actually using the library — or failing to. The pattern was consistent: members arrived with a rough idea of what they wanted (something for yoga, something short, something for recovery) but had no way to act on that intent. They'd scroll briefly, not find it fast enough, and leave.
Three failure modes emerged clearly from the research:
Can't find it — members with a specific goal (yoga, 20 minutes, intermediate) had no way to filter to it. They were forced to browse everything to find something specific.
Overwhelmed browsing — members without a specific goal needed editorial curation — categories, collections, themes — to spark interest. An undifferentiated grid killed discovery.
No way to save progress — members who found something they liked had no way to save it. Bookmarking and watch history didn't exist. Good content was found once and then lost.
These weren't separate problems. They were the same problem at three different levels of intent — and fixing only one of them would leave the others unresolved.
The Tiered Approach
Rather than proposing a single comprehensive redesign — which would require significant engineering resources and take months to ship — I structured the solution as three progressive tiers. Each tier addressed one failure mode, could be shipped independently, and built on the previous one. This gave stakeholders a credible path forward with flexibility on pacing and investment.
Pitching the Strategy
Getting a tiered roadmap approved requires a different kind of UX work than getting a single design approved. I had to make the case not just for what each tier looked like, but for why the sequence mattered — why Tier 01 had to come before Tier 02, and why shipping incrementally was less risky than waiting for all three.
I presented the strategy to product and engineering leadership with a focus on two things: the member research findings as evidence of the problem's severity, and the tier structure as a risk-managed path to fixing it. Tier 01's no-code nature was a key selling point — it let us validate the taxonomy and category structure with real members before committing engineering resources to Tier 02's filtering system.
The tier structure was a deliberate strategic choice. It let us demonstrate value quickly with Tier 01 (no engineering cost, immediate member benefit) while making the case for the bigger investments in Tiers 02 and 03. It also gave engineering a clear sequence to work toward rather than a monolithic spec.
Discovery
Before proposing any solutions I spent time understanding how members were actually using the library — or failing to. The pattern was consistent: members arrived with a rough idea of what they wanted (something for yoga, something short, something for recovery) but had no way to act on that intent. They'd scroll briefly, not find it fast enough, and leave.
Three failure modes emerged clearly from the research:
Can't find it — members with a specific goal (yoga, 20 minutes, intermediate) had no way to filter to it. They were forced to browse everything to find something specific.
Overwhelmed browsing — members without a specific goal needed editorial curation — categories, collections, themes — to spark interest. An undifferentiated grid killed discovery.
No way to save progress — members who found something they liked had no way to save it. Bookmarking and watch history didn't exist. Good content was found once and then lost.
These weren't separate problems. They were the same problem at three different levels of intent — and fixing only one of them would leave the others unresolved.
The Tiered Approach
Rather than proposing a single comprehensive redesign — which would require significant engineering resources and take months to ship — I structured the solution as three progressive tiers. Each tier addressed one failure mode, could be shipped independently, and built on the previous one. This gave stakeholders a credible path forward with flexibility on pacing and investment.
These weren't separate problems. They were the same problem at three different levels of intent — and fixing only one of them would leave the others unresolved.
Pitching the Strategy
Rather than proposing a single comprehensive redesign — which would require significant engineering resources and take months to ship — I structured the solution as three progressive tiers. Each tier addressed one failure mode, could be shipped independently, and built on the previous one. This gave stakeholders a credible path forward with flexibility on pacing and investment.
These weren't separate problems. They were the same problem at three different levels of intent — and fixing only one of them would leave the others unresolved.
The tier structure was a deliberate strategic choice. It let us demonstrate value quickly with Tier 01 (no engineering cost, immediate member benefit) while making the case for the bigger investments in Tiers 02 and 03. It also gave engineering a clear sequence to work toward rather than a monolithic spec.
On Demand
Context
Life Time's on-demand video library had a great problem: too much content. Hundreds of workout videos, wellness guides, and expert sessions — all in a single, unnavigable list. I designed a tiered feature strategy that turned an overwhelming catalogue into a genuinely useful library, sequenced by engineering complexity so it could be built in phases.
My Role: UX Designer
Scope: Discovery, research, feature strategy, wireframes, stakeholder pitch
Collaborators: Engineering
Status: Tiered roadmap presented & approved for phased build
The Challenge
Life Time On Demand had been built as a simple video repository — a place to put content, not a place to find it. That worked fine when the library was small. But the catalogue had grown to hundreds of videos across yoga, strength, cycling, nutrition, recovery, and more, and Life Time was about to gain access to a full video production studio, meaning it was about to get significantly larger.
The experience hadn't kept pace. Members landed on an endless vertical scroll with no way to filter by duration, category, instructor, or fitness level. Research confirmed what the engagement data already suggested: members would browse for a few seconds, not find what they wanted, and leave.
On Demand
Context
Life Time's on-demand video library had a great problem: too much content. Hundreds of workout videos, wellness guides, and expert sessions — all in a single, unnavigable list. I designed a tiered feature strategy that turned an overwhelming catalogue into a genuinely useful library, sequenced by engineering complexity so it could be built in phases.
My Role: UX Designer
Scope: Discovery, research, feature strategy, wireframes, stakeholder pitch
Collaborators: Engineering
Status: Tiered roadmap presented & approved for phased build
The Challenge
Life Time On Demand had been built as a simple video repository — a place to put content, not a place to find it. That worked fine when the library was small. But the catalogue had grown to hundreds of videos across yoga, strength, cycling, nutrition, recovery, and more, and Life Time was about to gain access to a full video production studio, meaning it was about to get significantly larger.
The experience hadn't kept pace. Members landed on an endless vertical scroll with no way to filter by duration, category, instructor, or fitness level. Research confirmed what the engagement data already suggested: members would browse for a few seconds, not find what they wanted, and leave.
