What I considered.

The main information architecture decision was whether to separate order fulfilment information from the post-purchase earning journey. A conventional e-commerce approach would treat order number, shipping and delivery as one experience, while content submission, review and cashback would sit elsewhere.

However, for VibeSquad, these stages are inherently connected. The user's purchase is only the beginning of the journey; their subsequent actions determine whether and when they unlock their earnings.

I therefore also considered whether Profile and Earnings should remain separate destinations or be consolidated into a single experience.

The trade-off: completeness vs. cognitive load. Combining profile, orders, campaigns and earnings risked creating an information-heavy dashboard. I therefore prioritised information based on user state and immediate relevance, while keeping secondary information available without giving everything equal visual prominence.

From display to action.

The core shift was from a Profile that displayed information to a Profile that helped users understand and act on their current state. The redesign established a more unified mental model of the VibeSquad experience and it enabled greater self-service — particularly around questions such as "What is happening with my order?", "What do I need to do?", and "Where is my cashback?"

Because the product was pre-launch, I could not claim that these changes actually increased task completion or reduced support volume. These were hypotheses to be validated after launch through task completion, support-contact rate, journey drop-off and cashback-related behaviour.

Three layers of communication.

I approached the problem as a progressive disclosure and product communication challenge: users needed the key financial information immediately, while the underlying pricing model could be explained separately when they wanted more context.

Initially, I considered a full pricing breakdown table with each term explained with its definition vs. a simplified 'you pay X, you earn Y' summary — but eventually settled upon these three levels of communication:

This allowed the product to communicate the value proposition without forcing every user to understand the entire pricing mechanism before purchasing.

I also separated understanding the pricing model from understanding the purchase journey. Pricing required financial clarity, while Buy → Create → Share → Earn required behavioural guidance. Treating them as separate communication problems kept each interaction more focused.

I considered a guided step-by-step feature tour popup vs. a contextual tooltip approach — but chose the former because tooltips are very easy to dismiss or skip, while the tour allowed us to convey more information along with context in a better manner.

Clarity without overload.

The resulting experience created three layers of product communication:

From ranking to progression.

I reframed the leaderboard from a ranking interface into a progression system.

What I considered: Whether the leaderboard should primarily show rank or help users understand how to improve it. I also considered how to make progression and rewards feel connected rather than separate.

What I prioritized: Clarity and actionability: one immediate milestone, a clear explanation of the gap, and visibility into what users could do to progress.

What I decided: I introduced a single dynamic milestone based on the user's current position (Top 10 → Top 3 → #1), translated ranking gaps into activity-based progress such as Purchase Impact points, and added a "How to Climb" / Game Plan to suggest actions. Rewards were incorporated into the progression system across Recognition, Economic value, Access, and Visibility.

Trade-offs considered: More information could make progression feel motivating, but too many goals and actions could create cognitive overload. I therefore prioritized one clear next milestone while keeping supporting actions and rewards secondary.

A motivation layer.

The redesign transformed the leaderboard from primarily a ranking surface into a progression and motivation layer. It also gave users greater visibility about key things such as where they currently stand, what milestone they are working toward, how progression relates to their activity, what rewards are available, and what actions can help them progress.