Rizzle
A short-form video platform that grew from zero to 1M+ downloads.
Duration
7 months
Role
UI/UX Designer (Founding Team)
Tools
Sketch, Principle, Zeplin, After Effects
The Challenge
Short-form video was exploding, but most platforms had the same problem: 90% of users just watched. Getting people to create — not just consume — was the real challenge.
I joined as a founding team member to design an experience that would turn passive viewers into active creators. Unlike pure entertainment platforms focused on dance and travel content, Rizzle was built for talking heads — opinions on news, politics, and current events.
0→1M
Downloads
7
Months
2
Platforms
My Role
As the UI/UX designer on the founding team, I owned the entire design surface:
Product Design — Feed experience, creation tools, profile system, discovery UX Strategy — User research, feature prioritization, conversion optimization Prototyping — High-fidelity prototypes for animations and interactions Dev Coordination — Working directly with Swift (iOS) and Java (Android) teams Design System — Components, patterns, and motion language across platforms
Design Deep Dive
Video Feed
Full-screen vertical video with topic tags always visible — making it clear this is opinion-led news, not entertainment. The React button is the primary CTA, positioned at thumb reach.
Unlike TikTok, content is anchored to news topics, not algorithms guessing taste.
Prompt Discovery
Instead of an empty canvas, users see today's trending topics — lowering the barrier from "perform for strangers" to "join a conversation."
Watch first, then react: seeing others' takes before recording reduces anxiety and improves response quality.
Recording
The prompt stays pinned at the top during recording — users never lose context. Waveform visualises audio input live, giving feedback that the mic is working.
Speed controls and grid overlay borrowed from camera apps users already know.
Edit & Publish
Trim handles, caption, hashtags, and audience controls — all in one view. The linked prompt is shown so the published video always carries context.
Designed for 30-second publish time: research showed drop-off spiked when editing took more than a minute.
Creator Profile
Profile designed around reactions, not follows — the grid shows a creator's takes on news events. Hot tags surface high-engagement videos for new visitors.
Reaction count replaces view count as the primary metric, reinforcing the participatory model.
Activity Feed
Reactions to your reactions close the engagement loop. The "Trending" notification — telling a creator their video is reaching thousands — was the highest-rated feature in user testing.
Unread count dots are pinned to the activity tab, not a generic bell badge, so users know where to go.
The climate bill has three parts people aren't talking about. Here's what actually matters...
What's your take?
React to today's topics
New climate policy announced — biggest shift in a decade
Election debate highlights: what both sides got right
AI regulation bill passes committee — what it means for users
Interest rates held again. Is inflation finally beaten?
Responding to
New climate policy announced — biggest shift in a decade
My take on the climate bill...
Caption
My thoughts on the new climate bill — the three things no one is talking about...
Responding to prompt
New climate policy announced...
Political journalist · Chicago, IL
"Making politics less scary, one video at a time."
124
Videos
24.2K
Followers
8.1K
Following
1.4M
Reactions
Activity
@sarah_talks reacted to your take on the climate bill
2m ago
@kp_politics started following you
14m ago
@journo_watch liked your video "3 things nobody is saying about AI"
1h ago
Your reaction is trending in #Politics — 4.2K views
2h ago
@media_reporter mentioned you in a reaction
3h ago
@tdebates replied to your comment
5h ago
Video Feed
Full-screen vertical video with topic tags always visible — making it clear this is opinion-led news, not entertainment. The React button is the primary CTA, positioned at thumb reach.
Unlike TikTok, content is anchored to news topics, not algorithms guessing taste.
The climate bill has three parts people aren't talking about. Here's what actually matters...
Prompt Discovery
Instead of an empty canvas, users see today's trending topics — lowering the barrier from "perform for strangers" to "join a conversation."
Watch first, then react: seeing others' takes before recording reduces anxiety and improves response quality.
What's your take?
React to today's topics
New climate policy announced — biggest shift in a decade
Election debate highlights: what both sides got right
AI regulation bill passes committee — what it means for users
Interest rates held again. Is inflation finally beaten?
Recording
The prompt stays pinned at the top during recording — users never lose context. Waveform visualises audio input live, giving feedback that the mic is working.
Speed controls and grid overlay borrowed from camera apps users already know.
Responding to
New climate policy announced — biggest shift in a decade
Edit & Publish
Trim handles, caption, hashtags, and audience controls — all in one view. The linked prompt is shown so the published video always carries context.
Designed for 30-second publish time: research showed drop-off spiked when editing took more than a minute.
My take on the climate bill...
Caption
My thoughts on the new climate bill — the three things no one is talking about...
Responding to prompt
New climate policy announced...
Creator Profile
Profile designed around reactions, not follows — the grid shows a creator's takes on news events. Hot tags surface high-engagement videos for new visitors.
Reaction count replaces view count as the primary metric, reinforcing the participatory model.
Political journalist · Chicago, IL
"Making politics less scary, one video at a time."
124
Videos
24.2K
Followers
8.1K
Following
1.4M
Reactions
Activity Feed
Reactions to your reactions close the engagement loop. The "Trending" notification — telling a creator their video is reaching thousands — was the highest-rated feature in user testing.
Unread count dots are pinned to the activity tab, not a generic bell badge, so users know where to go.
Activity
@sarah_talks reacted to your take on the climate bill
2m ago
@kp_politics started following you
14m ago
@journo_watch liked your video "3 things nobody is saying about AI"
1h ago
Your reaction is trending in #Politics — 4.2K views
2h ago
@media_reporter mentioned you in a reaction
3h ago
@tdebates replied to your comment
5h ago
The Prompts Innovation
The breakthrough came from watching how people actually behaved. Users would open the app, scroll for 20 minutes, then leave without creating anything. The blank canvas was intimidating.
The solution: Prompts.
Instead of asking "What do you want to say?", we showed users trending news topics and asked "What do you think about this?" We'd show other people's reactions first, lowering the barrier — you're not starting from nothing, you're joining a conversation.
This shifted creation from "perform for strangers" to "react to something interesting."
Outcome
Rizzle grew from zero to over 1 million downloads. The Prompts feature significantly improved creation rates — more users went from passive viewers to active creators.
What I delivered: • Complete UI/UX for a native mobile app on iOS and Android • Creation flow that lowered the barrier to making content • Prompts system that drove creator conversion • Animation language that defined the app's personality • Design-to-dev process for a distributed mobile team
What I learned: The hardest design problems aren't visual — they're behavioral. Getting someone to create instead of consume required understanding psychology, not just pushing pixels.