Controlled Collaboration,
Effortless Execution
Optimizing a highly modular system for secure & simple collaboration.
Roles
Product Designer, UX Strategist, Information Architect, and Workflow Optimizer
Introduction
This case study addresses multiple interconnected flows:
Permissions by group & audio
Permission hierarchies
Inviting contributors & other parties
Segmented invites by Project & Splid
Creating & Managing Groups
Each frame was designed with scalability and user clarity in mind, ensuring the experience remains seamless, even in complex scenarios. This project profoundly shaped my perspective and design methodology—teaching me how to consolidate brutally complex backend systems into intuitive, user-centric flows.
Initial concepts were optimized for desktop, prioritizing power users and complex workflows. A later business decision to shift focus to mobile-first—centered on creating a groundbreaking contract experience—required me to redesign the entire app from the ground up, ensuring scalability and seamless usability across platforms.
The problem
From security and edge cases to scalability for future features, this design challenge was a bonafide problem child—but one that demanded innovative, user-first solutions.
Security & Permissions
Establishing access controls for people, groups, projects, and assets.
Addressing edge cases like downloadable assets for session musicians or non-musician casual listeners (e.g., family or friends)
Usability & Workflow Clarity
Simplifying flows for creating and managing permission groups while minimizing user confusion.
Streamlining segmented invites for Splids and Projects while maintaining flexibility and avoiding friction.
Scalability for the Future
Designing a modular system to support features like parent accounts (e.g., managers or publishers) or publicizing assets, and future scenarios like song disputes.
Ensuring new features integrate seamlessly without disrupting existing workflows.
Summary
For a platform designed to handle both collaboration and the security of intellectual property in a complex industry, a straightforward design solution wasn’t enough. I needed to create a system that accounted for all collaborative possibilities, empowered users to govern their IP freely and fairly—and made it all easy to use…
Inspired by the Jackbox.fm games, the project code felt like strong, lightweight solution to Project security. This idea stemmed from a legal question I had: do we need to grant users legally enforceable, fundamental rights on a song they’re a part of even before a Splid is created? While we’re awaiting legal counsel on this for the ToS, the project code aims to allow users that extra preventative measure if necessary.
Many proposed future features–like public playlists for portfolio and networking purposes–would have to be navigated with caution, prioritizing file security without becoming a pain.
How I Solved it
Through product research, I gathered what the standards were in secure file-sharing–analyzing how leading platforms handle collaboration, permissions & security. With these insights, I reimagined everything for Splidi’s unique use case.
1. Research & Benchmarking
What I Did: Conducted research on trusted file-sharing platforms to understand industry standards for permissions and security.
I found…
Users expect simple, clear permissions management.
Familiarity with existing layouts makes it important to model them in our interface where possible.
Identified pitfalls in competitors’ overly minimal designs, which obscure key functionality and lessen security.
2. Modular Design for Scalability
What I Did: Designed a detailed permissions system to handle numerous user types (e.g., artists, session musicians, casual listeners) and future use cases.
Features
Permissions by Group, Project, and Audio for granular control.
Consistent with our data structure, designed a flexible architecture to accommodate features like Splid branches or non-contributor project members.
Addressed vital functions such as designated payor and deal type governance with Splid authorities and Project Admins respectively.
Outcome: A meticulous framework that scales effortlessly while maintaining usability.
3. Seamless Invites with Clarity
What I Did: Addressed all invitation possibilities by segmenting Splids and Projects.
Considerations
Segmentation prevents problems between different invite types. (i.e. Artist vs. their manager)
Detailed permissions on groups allows for diversity of project invitees.
Designed flows that mirror trusted patterns (e.g., Dropbox) but optimized for Splidi’s needs.
Outcome: Streamlined the user experience for both casual and professional users.
4. Enhanced Security & Protection
What I Did: Prioritized secure file sharing while minimizing user frustration.
Considerations:
Allowing for granularity while keeping main flows uncluttered is the best of both worlds
Built trust by clearly surfacing permissions and access controls in the UI.
Prevented security issues while keeping edge-case permissions necessities viable.
Outcome: A user-first solution that balances accessibility with security.
A prototype from the Project create paths, showcasing how users can easily configure stack permissions and create custom groups with granular controls. I am itching for a larger sample of user feedback post-launch in February to relentlessly iterate on this interface until it reaches perfection. My goal is to design a permissions system that is obvious–even in all its complexity.
This initial invite flow was simple & pretty, but it lacked the flexibility we needed and wasn’t quite intuitive enough.
Though scrapped for V1, we intend to make the invite process even simpler by adding QR codes for profiles, projects & splids–allowing users to collaborate on the spot with Splidi.
Permissions are not only on groups–they can also be put onto asset stacks for flexibility. Interfaces with many layers are often a balancing act between simplicity and front-facing power. In order to simplify the “Create Asset Stack” flow, I made a judgement call to allow stack permissions, but only in the asset stack folder view. This was to minimize cognitive overload for such a core action. I am awaiting user feedback to determine if this was the right call.
Results
This design tackled the challenge of balancing security, usability, and scalability, resulting in a system that empowers users to collaborate seamlessly while retaining full control over their intellectual property.
Key Achievements:
Streamlined User Flows: Reduced friction in critical actions like inviting contributors, managing permissions, and creating asset stacks, ensuring a smooth experience for all user types.
Granular Permissions with Clarity: Delivered a modular architecture that supports diverse user needs (artists, session musicians, managers, and casual listeners) while maintaining simplicity.
Future-Proof Scalability: Designed a framework capable of integrating additional features like dispute resolution, parental account structures, and expanded security options without disrupting workflows.
User-Centric Approach: Leveraged best practices from trusted platforms while avoiding pitfalls, ensuring users intuitively understand and trust the system.
This project stands as a testament to design innovation in a complex space, with a production ready version queued to gather real-world feedback post-launch. Future iterations will refine and expand on these foundations, aiming for an even more seamless and intuitive experience.
A quick and easy groups interface
Set permissions, pick members and even accessible asset stacks
Set which groups have permission to your new stack–but if you want to do group and stack permissions, we can do that too! (See #4 above)
Invite to Splid design
Invite to Project design