Cynch

Transforming a Complex Media Buying Platform into a Modern SaaS

Experience

Jan 8 2021 - Aug 15 2024

What is Cynch?

Cynch is a self-serve media buying platform that enables advertisers to build, purchase, and track multi-platform advertising campaigns online.

As Lead Designer and Researcher, I was responsible for evolving the user experience of Cynch into a scalable, enterprise-grade SaaS product.

My work focused on simplifying complex workflows, improving data visibility, establishing design consistency, and creating a foundation that could support future growth.

The Challenge

Cynch had grown significantly since its launch in 2018, accumulating new features and workflows without a unified design system. As a result, the platform felt fragmented, inconsistent, and difficult to navigate.

Users frequently described the experience as overwhelming due to the volume of information displayed throughout the application.

The challenge was twofold:

Create a more intuitive and modern SaaS experience without disrupting existing user workflows.
Establish scalable design foundations that would enable future product growth and improve collaboration with development teams.

Research & Discovery

To better understand user needs, I conducted user interviews, usability testing sessions, and stakeholder workshops.

Through this research, several key themes emerged:

User Pain Points

Information-heavy interfaces made it difficult to quickly locate important campaign details.
Large data tables lacked hierarchy and visual distinction.
Users wanted more campaign visibility without needing to navigate into individual campaigns.
Customers anticipated needing even more reporting data in the future but wanted it presented in a clearer, more digestible way.

Opportunities

Modernize an interface that had remained largely unchanged since launch.
Improve consistency across workflows and interactions.
Shift the homepage from a spreadsheet-like experience to a dashboard that surfaces meaningful information and actions.

Homepage
Refresh

The homepage redesign became an opportunity to apply research findings and design system principles to a highly visible user experience.

Design Goals

Surface critical campaign information faster.
Improve content hierarchy and readability.
Create stronger visual distinction between statuses and data states.
Introduce a more dashboard-oriented experience.
Establish a framework for future reporting and analytics features.

Design Decisions

To improve usability, I focused on seemingly small but impactful refinements:

Increased spacing and padding throughout dense table layouts.
Introduced accessible status indicators for quicker scanning.
Improved alignment and consistency across filters and controls.
Repositioned navigation to create a more modern dashboard structure.
Reserved space for future analytics, notifications, and campaign insights.

The redesign transformed the homepage from a data-heavy table into a more approachable workspace while maintaining the level of detail users required.

Building the Design System Foundation

One of the largest challenges was the lack of a centralized design system.

Existing components were distributed across legacy Axure files, undocumented designs, and implemented product experiences. This created inefficiencies for both design and development teams.

I initiated a full UI audit of the application and rebuilt every existing component in Figma, creating a centralized source of truth for the organization.

Desktop-First Strategy

Research revealed that virtually all active users accessed Cynch from desktop devices.

Rather than dividing resources across multiple experiences, I advocated for a desktop-first design strategy that prioritized the workflows users relied on most.

This decision allowed the team to focus on optimizing information density, reporting experiences, and campaign management tools for the environments where customers were actually working.

Cynch User Journeys (2024)

Cynch Personas (2024)

Key Takeaways

One of the most valuable lessons from this project was learning how to tackle large-scale product transformation incrementally.

Rather than attempting to redesign the entire platform at once, I broke the work into smaller, defensible improvements. This approach helped stakeholders understand the value of each change, increased team alignment, and ultimately made larger product evolution possible.

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