shivangimahajandesign@gmail.com

Currently @ HEYGEN

shivangimahajandesign@gmail.com

Currently @ HEYGEN

shivangimahajandesign@gmail.com

Currently @ HEYGEN

HEYGEN

Personalized Shortcuts that Scaled into an Apps Ecosystem

Personalized Shortcuts that Scaled into an Apps Ecosystem

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Overview

Overview

Introduced personalized creative shortcuts on the homepage, driving 300K+ daily shortcut interactions and a 36% increase in Photo Avatar creation - later evolving into a scalable Apps ecosystem supported by a cross-team Shortcut Framework.

Introduction

Introduction

I led the redesign of HeyGen’s homepage into a central creative hub that surfaces personalized shortcuts to creation workflows. My role as lead product designer was to reimagine the homepage architecture, define a scalable Shortcut Framework, and ensure discoverability, intent-driven design, and measurable impact on feature adoption.

Year

2025

Industry


SaaS / Generative AI / Growth

Scope of work

Product Design

Timeline

5 weeks

Team

1 Product Designer, 1 Product Manager, 1 Engineer

A scalable Shortcut Framework

A scalable Shortcut Framework

A scalable Shortcut Framework

The homepage is the first touchpoint for most users after login. It needed to evolve from a static entry point into a dynamic launchpad for HeyGen’s growing suite of tools - from Instant Highlights and Batch Mode to Photo Avatars and Product Placement.

The new design introduced personalized creative shortcuts and recent creations, making the homepage both inspirational and actionable.

The problem

The problem

The problem

Clarity
Users were landing on a homepage that didn’t clearly showcase what HeyGen could do. Many powerful tools (like translation or product placement) remained hidden behind studio menus.

Consistency
Shortcuts existed in scattered entry points but weren’t unified into a coherent framework. Mobile, in particular, suffered from low discoverability.

Upgrade Journey
Free users lacked guided exposure to premium tools. Without contextual upsells, valuable upgrade triggers were being missed.

Business Impact
Low feature adoption meant slower activation rates and missed revenue opportunities. Engagement with advanced workflows (like Photo Avatars) remained below potential.

Clarity
Users were landing on a homepage that didn’t clearly showcase what HeyGen could do. Many powerful tools (like translation or product placement) remained hidden behind studio menus.

Consistency
Shortcuts existed in scattered entry points but weren’t unified into a coherent framework. Mobile, in particular, suffered from low discoverability.

Upgrade Journey
Free users lacked guided exposure to premium tools. Without contextual upsells, valuable upgrade triggers were being missed.

Business Impact
Low feature adoption meant slower activation rates and missed revenue opportunities. Engagement with advanced workflows (like Photo Avatars) remained below potential.

Clarity
Users were landing on a homepage that didn’t clearly showcase what HeyGen could do. Many powerful tools (like translation or product placement) remained hidden behind studio menus.

Consistency
Shortcuts existed in scattered entry points but weren’t unified into a coherent framework. Mobile, in particular, suffered from low discoverability.

Upgrade Journey
Free users lacked guided exposure to premium tools. Without contextual upsells, valuable upgrade triggers were being missed.

Business Impact
Low feature adoption meant slower activation rates and missed revenue opportunities. Engagement with advanced workflows (like Photo Avatars) remained below potential.

Legacy Homepage

Hypothesis

Hypothesis

Hypothesis

If we redesigned the homepage as a creative hub with personalized shortcuts, then:

✅ Users would more easily discover tools aligned with their intent.

✅ Engagement with core workflows would increase.

✅ Premium features like Photo Avatars would see higher creation and upgrade rates.

Process

Process

Process

I approached the redesign in three phases:

  1. Rapid Prototyping

    • Created multiple layout explorations (grid vs. tabbed hub vs. carousel).

    • Studied competitors like Canva and Veed for discoverability patterns.

  2. Shortcut Framework Definition

    • Authored a Shortcut Framework that served as a cross-team guideline for designing new shortcuts.

    • Defined rules for layout, modal structure, and page entry points so that every shortcut whether for translation, product placement, or future Labs features looked and felt consistent.

    • Ensured each shortcut was editor-compatible, mobile-optimized, and project-backed, establishing design standards that scaled beyond one-off flows.

  3. Collaboration & Iteration

    • Partnered with engineering to define scalable components and fast load requirements (2s max).

    • Worked with PMs to align on personalization logic (survey-driven “For You” section, recent creations).

    • Designed badge treatments (New, Labs, Beta, Diamond for upsells) for clarity and guided discovery.

I approached the redesign in three phases:

  1. Rapid Prototyping

    • Created multiple layout explorations (grid vs. tabbed hub vs. carousel).

    • Studied competitors like Canva and Veed for discoverability patterns.

  2. Shortcut Framework Definition

    • Authored a Shortcut Framework that served as a cross-team guideline for designing new shortcuts.

    • Defined rules for layout, modal structure, and page entry points so that every shortcut whether for translation, product placement, or future Labs features looked and felt consistent.

    • Ensured each shortcut was editor-compatible, mobile-optimized, and project-backed, establishing design standards that scaled beyond one-off flows.

  3. Collaboration & Iteration

    • Partnered with engineering to define scalable components and fast load requirements (2s max).

    • Worked with PMs to align on personalization logic (survey-driven “For You” section, recent creations).

    • Designed badge treatments (New, Labs, Beta, Diamond for upsells) for clarity and guided discovery.

I approached the redesign in three phases:

  1. Rapid Prototyping

    • Created multiple layout explorations (grid vs. tabbed hub vs. carousel).

    • Studied competitors like Canva and Veed for discoverability patterns.

  2. Shortcut Framework Definition

    • Authored a Shortcut Framework that served as a cross-team guideline for designing new shortcuts.

    • Defined rules for layout, modal structure, and page entry points so that every shortcut whether for translation, product placement, or future Labs features looked and felt consistent.

    • Ensured each shortcut was editor-compatible, mobile-optimized, and project-backed, establishing design standards that scaled beyond one-off flows.

  3. Collaboration & Iteration

    • Partnered with engineering to define scalable components and fast load requirements (2s max).

    • Worked with PMs to align on personalization logic (survey-driven “For You” section, recent creations).

    • Designed badge treatments (New, Labs, Beta, Diamond for upsells) for clarity and guided discovery.

Feature Card Component Library

A/B tested multiple variants of feature cards experimenting with different graphics and button styles to validate which designs drove the highest engagement.

Challenge

Challenge

Challenge

We had to balance speed with vision. Engineering shipped an MVP apps page in record time, but my design had to scale beyond MVP while keeping performance tight. Decisions like whether to use heavy thumbnails, how to rank shortcuts, and where to place integrations required trade-offs between load time, discoverability, and clarity.

Early explorations with large graphic cards looked visually compelling but introduced two issues:

  • Performance: heavier assets slowed down homepage load times.

  • Clarity: users felt overwhelmed by too much visual information on one screen.

To resolve this, we opted for a cleaner button-style tile with icon + header approach — lighter, faster, and easier to scan at a glance.

We had to balance speed with vision. Engineering shipped an MVP apps page in record time, but my design had to scale beyond MVP while keeping performance tight. Decisions like whether to use heavy thumbnails, how to rank shortcuts, and where to place integrations required trade-offs between load time, discoverability, and clarity.

Early explorations with large graphic cards looked visually compelling but introduced two issues:

  • Performance: heavier assets slowed down homepage load times.

  • Clarity: users felt overwhelmed by too much visual information on one screen.

To resolve this, we opted for a cleaner button-style tile with icon + header approach — lighter, faster, and easier to scan at a glance.

We had to balance speed with vision. Engineering shipped an MVP apps page in record time, but my design had to scale beyond MVP while keeping performance tight. Decisions like whether to use heavy thumbnails, how to rank shortcuts, and where to place integrations required trade-offs between load time, discoverability, and clarity.

Early explorations with large graphic cards looked visually compelling but introduced two issues:

  • Performance: heavier assets slowed down homepage load times.

  • Clarity: users felt overwhelmed by too much visual information on one screen.

To resolve this, we opted for a cleaner button-style tile with icon + header approach — lighter, faster, and easier to scan at a glance.

Final Designs

Final Designs

Final Designs

The winning design introduced:

  • Personalized Creative Shortcuts: Grid of intent-driven entry points, reordered dynamically.

  • Recent Creations: Immediate access to users’ latest avatars and videos with quick actions.

  • Badging System: Clear labels (New, Labs, Beta) and diamond-upsell icons for premium shortcuts.

  • Suggested for you - survey-driven personalized experience based on user type and intent

  • Shortcut Framework (Cross-team Guide): Ensured every new shortcut modal or page followed a unified layout and design system, reducing inconsistencies and design debt.

The winning design introduced:

  • Personalized Creative Shortcuts: Grid of intent-driven entry points, reordered dynamically.

  • Recent Creations: Immediate access to users’ latest avatars and videos with quick actions.

  • Badging System: Clear labels (New, Labs, Beta) and diamond-upsell icons for premium shortcuts.

  • Suggested for you - survey-driven personalized experience based on user type and intent

  • Shortcut Framework (Cross-team Guide): Ensured every new shortcut modal or page followed a unified layout and design system, reducing inconsistencies and design debt.

The winning design introduced:

  • Personalized Creative Shortcuts: Grid of intent-driven entry points, reordered dynamically.

  • Recent Creations: Immediate access to users’ latest avatars and videos with quick actions.

  • Badging System: Clear labels (New, Labs, Beta) and diamond-upsell icons for premium shortcuts.

  • Suggested for you - survey-driven personalized experience based on user type and intent

  • Shortcut Framework (Cross-team Guide): Ensured every new shortcut modal or page followed a unified layout and design system, reducing inconsistencies and design debt.

Framework guidelines

Framework guidelines

Impact

Impact

Impact

300K+ daily shortcut interactions

  • 36% increase in Photo Avatar creation

  • Stronger engagement across feature set (measured by CTR into advanced workflows)

  • Validated the impact of intent-driven homepage design on both activation and monetization

300K+ daily shortcut interactions

  • 36% increase in Photo Avatar creation

  • Stronger engagement across feature set (measured by CTR into advanced workflows)

  • Validated the impact of intent-driven homepage design on both activation and monetization

300K+ daily shortcut interactions

  • 36% increase in Photo Avatar creation

  • Stronger engagement across feature set (measured by CTR into advanced workflows)

  • Validated the impact of intent-driven homepage design on both activation and monetization

6 Months Later

6 Months Later

6 Months Later

After Launch Update

After Launch Update

After Launch Update

Six months after launch, the Creative Hub had proven itself as a high-leverage entry point not only for Avatars but across the broader feature set. We observed significant uplift in usage of secondary tools like translation, batch creation, and product placement.

This momentum created a clear need to scale. In response, we introduced a dedicated Apps Page, designed as a long-term home for HeyGen’s growing portfolio of tools. The Apps Page allows us to:

  • Organize features into For you, Trending, New & Noteworthy tabs.

  • Continuously add and scale new capabilities (e.g., Apps, integrations, standalone B-roll tools).

  • Separate exploration (Apps Page) from personalization (Homepage), keeping the homepage light while still inspirational.

The Shortcut Framework played a critical role here enabling all teams to ship new shortcuts and tools with a consistent design language, ensuring that growth experiments, enterprise features, and Labs projects aligned seamlessly with the homepage and apps experience.

Retrospective

Retrospective

Retrospective

If we evolve successful patterns (Creative Hub → Apps Page), we can scale HeyGen into a true ecosystem of tools.

If we evolve successful patterns (Creative Hub → Apps Page), we can scale HeyGen into a true ecosystem of tools.

✅ If we treat the homepage as a creative hub, we can drive discovery and adoption across the product.

✅ If we codify design rules with a Shortcut Framework, we scale consistently across teams.

⚠️ If we don’t refine personalization logic, we risk fatigue from static ordering (top 5 always dominate).

⚠️ If we overload visuals, we compromise load speed and engagement, especially on mobile.

Next

All projects

All projects

All projects

All projects

All projects

All projects

(2016-25©)

Get in Touch

Let’s connect.

I’m currently open to full-time roles where I can bring my product thinking, design systems expertise, and growth-focused mindset to the table.

Product Designer

Shivangi Mahajan

Email Me

Email Me

Get in Touch

Let’s connect.

I’m currently open to full-time roles where I can bring my product thinking, design systems expertise, and growth-focused mindset to the table.

Product Designer

Shivangi Mahajan

Email Me

Email Me

Get in Touch

Let’s connect.

I’m currently open to full-time roles where I can bring my product thinking, design systems expertise, and growth-focused mindset to the table.

Product Designer

Shivangi Mahajan

Email Me

Email Me