Apps Catalog Redesign

Redesigned how 10M+ Creative Cloud members discover and purchase apps - replacing a static, one-size-fits-all catalog with an entitlement-aware, content-first experience that drove $20M+ in projected revenue across four consecutive releases.

Product Strategy | Information Architecture | Monetization | System Design | Visual Redesign

Company Adobe Inc.

My Role Lead UX and UI Designer - sole designer across 4 consecutive releases; Project Management - managed timelines and stakeholder accountability

Timeline 2023-2026

Team Product Management, Engineering, Content Strategy, Growth design, Design research

Impact $20M+ projected annual revenue · 22.2% increase in Buy CTR · 51% lift in web app referrals · North star roadmap defining path to $500M ARR

Project Overview

Adobe's app catalog is the primary surface where Creative Cloud members discover, manage, and purchase apps - it’s bread and butter - but it wasn't working. Banner blindness, platform-siloed navigation, and pricing buried on marketing pages meant users couldn't find what they needed, and Adobe was losing conversions it should have owned.

The deeper problem was structural: the catalog treated every user identically. The same static grid, regardless of plan, installed apps, or membership history.

I led UX across four consecutive releases to fix this - first rebuilding the foundation so the catalog could function, then defining what it could become.

The scope of that work spanned:

8 app categories; 40+ apps with desktop, web, and mobile presence
4 entitlement states- free, single-app, all-apps, and lapsed members
Multiple customer engagement state- non-paying, inactive, newly active, and active returning users
Web and desktop surfaces and breakpoints
Light and dark themes

My Role

I owned end-to-end UX across four consecutive releases of Creative Cloud's primary app acquisition surface - from strategic IA decisions through high-fidelity specs and engineering handoff
I redesigned the catalog's information architecture, replacing a legacy left-rail navigation model with a content-first layout optimized for vertical discovery - directly addressing scroll behavior research had already identified as the dominant user pattern.
I designed a platform-agnostic, entitlement-aware catalog that surfaced the right apps for each user's plan, contributing to $20M+ in projected annual revenue and a 51% lift in web app referrals.
I also maintained product continuity through multiple PM transitions - onboarding new partners to edge cases, decision frameworks, and engineering trade-offs to keep four releases on track through extended periods without a clear decision-maker in place.
I defined the North Star concept that shaped the subsequent roadmap - identifying pricing integration, personalized category pages, and PDP redesign as the next three milestones, all of which moved into active development.

Project Outcome

The rollout of Apps (Milestone 1) delivered $20M+ in projected annual revenue, driven by a 22.2% increase in Buy CTR and a 51% lift in web app referrals - directly solving the hidden web apps problem that had persisted for years.

The North Star concept and roadmap, built on the validated foundation of Milestone 1, charts a clearer path to conversion across the full Creative Cloud member base, treating personalization and catalog coherence as revenue levers, not UX improvements. Integrated pricing, in-context plan information, and richer category pages are in active development, with testing planned for 2026.

Milestone 1 - Rebuilding the foundation

Flat catalog list over tabbed platform navigation

The tabbed structure separating desktop, web, and mobile apps was architecturally logical but behaviorally broken. Over 60% of users never switched tabs -meaning web and mobile apps were effectively invisible. Collapsing everything into a single entitlement-aware list meant users saw apps relevant to their plan by default, without needing to know what to look for. Web app awareness increased significantly as a direct result.

BEFORE
Tabbed by platform; Desktop selected by default
**60%+ of users never switched tabs - web apps are invisible**

AFTER
Flat, entitlement-aware list; all platforms shown inline
**51% lift in web app referrals post-launch**

Removing the left rail entirely in favor of a content-first layout

Research confirmed users were scrolling the main content area - not navigating the left rail, which was taking up roughly 25% of the viewport. I removed it entirely and introduced a bifurcated layout: Browse & Discover on the left, Utility & Updates on the right. The result matched actual user behavior rather than assumed navigation patterns, and gave the catalog room to surface more of what members were already paying for.

BEFORE
Wide installed apps list dominates above the fold
Static layout

AFTER
Discovery content elevated; installed apps in a dedicated panel
Programmable content blades for future personalization

Contextual growth cards over large promotional banners

Large banners were generating banner blindness and frustrating users trying to find an app. Replacing them with contextual growth cards placed inline within the catalog grid preserved cross-sell opportunities while reducing friction. The cards read as recommendations rather than interruptions.

BEFORE - Large banners causing banner blindness

North Star Concept

Hi-fidelity output from design sprint to define ‘North Star’ and vision for Adobe’s app catalog - for Pre-purchase customers

Hi-fidelity output from design sprint to define ‘North Star’ and vision for Adobe’s app catalog - for Post-purchase and actively engaged customers

The North Star concept - a catalog that surfaces the next best app for every member based on skill level and creative history - didn't reach full cross-functional alignment during this engagement. Org complexity, stakeholder turnover, and competing priorities made that a shared challenge, not a design failure.

The pricing integration, in-context plan view, and editorial category pages, now in active development, were all defined in this vision work - I defined the roadmap we are now building against. The PDP redesign and an improved app update experience follow the same foundation and remain on the roadmap. The thinking is actively shaping what ships next.

Milestone 2 - Pricing integration & UI improvements

60% of web users were leaving the catalog to find pricing - available only on Adobe's marketing pages. That navigational gap was directly costing conversions.

I redesigned the experience to surface pricing at the decision point: on app cards, on Product Detail Pages, and within an in-context Plans view. Users could evaluate, compare, and act without leaving the catalog.

Currently in testing. Results expected in 2026.

**Key changes:**
Pricing surfaced inline on app cards and PDPs
Focused "Popular Plans" modal to streamline plan selection
New "Your Apps" category for entitled users; "Featured" category for upsell

**Key changes:**
Dynamic Updates button in the header, replacing the installed apps management panel (data showed most users visit to update apps, but the priority shifted toward new user activation)
Visual refresh to Spectrum 2, Adobe's current design system
Hierarchy and layout improvements to card content and header

Changes to the header styling, UX, and content

Milestone 3 - Categories as informational hubs

Legacy comparison tables had proven value at Adobe - helping users evaluate tools and decide where to start. The Milestone 1 and 2 rebuilds required removing them, but restoring static, outdated tables wasn't the answer. I reframed the concept as feature highlight cards: a content-first format built for editorial programming, personalization, and longevity. Looking at this work through the lens of Function + Form + Substance.

Category pages sit at the intersection of UX, content strategy, product marketing, and display logic - and when this project started, none of those had clear ownership. I flagged the dependencies in week one. The direction was to proceed with design first and resolve content questions later.

I did. When the executive review raised the same structural questions I'd surfaced at the start, I absorbed the redirect, recalibrated the scope, and kept the work moving. What was scoped as five weeks took closer to ten. Unresolved content governance during the handoff pushed testing back by approximately six months.

That's the environment this work was delivered in.

Progression from Legacy Category pages to Milestone 1 -> Milestone 2 -> Milestone 3 (reintroducing better category pages)

The feature highlight cards, integrated with Milestone 2's pricing work, meaningfully strengthen category pages as decision-making surfaces. Suggestions for workflow and learning content give experienced users a reason to explore adjacent apps - turning a filtered list into an active acquisition surface. Currently in testing. Results expected 2026.

BEFORE
simple grid of filtered apps - no hierarchy, no story

AFTER
Enriched category page with comparison table prominent at top

Learnings

Delivering without a safety net teaches you where the leverage actually is

Four releases. One designer. Significant partner turnover. No program management. Every decision and alignment happened inside that constraint.

Design quality alone didn't move things forward - the process work that I managed did. Weekly syncs caught blockers early. Documented rationale kept leadership aligned without requiring them to be in every room. Explorations delivered ahead of engineering kept design in the lead.

Working without direct authority sharpened one skill above others: knowing when to push, when to absorb, and when to name a problem before it quietly derails something downstream.

Scope is a design decision

Milestone 3 timeline expanded because content dependencies weren't accounted for in the original plan. I flagged it in week one. The timeline held anyway - and what was scoped as five weeks took ten.

Advocating for a realistic scope is quality control. Challenging an underscoped brief at the brief stage is part of the design work.

Visibility and voice are part of the job

Heads-down delivery isn't enough in a complex org. Work that isn't actively narrated gets misread - especially when decisions are being made in rooms you're not in.

What this project revealed

Two-plus years. Four releases. I'm proud of what shipped.

Only Milestone 1 was built on known user pain points. Everything after was hypothesis-driven, which put more weight on design to carry alignment that research and testing should have owned. The North Star worked as a centering artifact, even when it didn't produce the commitment it deserved.

The testing strategy was the most resource-intensive path available. It was also the preferred one, because the business priority was acquisition over experience improvement. It shaped every design and UX tradeoff in Milestones 2 and 3.

Design can move fast. What slows it down is when the hypothesis hasn't been tested cheaply before the expensive build begins.

What I'd do differently: build the research repository earlier, pull content strategy in at the brief stage, test hypotheses cheaply before the expensive build, and narrate the work consistently - because delivery alone doesn't protect it in a complex org.