WeShort is a streaming platform dedicated to short films, connecting filmmakers and audiences worldwide. It offers a curated library across genres and languages, aiming to elevate the visibility of short films.
When I joined WeShort in 2021, the platform already had a global audience of short-film lovers, but both the brand and the product experience needed clarity and focus. With more than 250,000 users, WeShort required a modern identity and a more intuitive app to support its mission of connecting filmmakers and audiences worldwide.
The visual guidelines and templates I inherited felt outdated, inconsistent and not aligned with the expectations of a contemporary streaming platform. The original palette created a strong contrast between blue and red, but this combination did not meet WCAG accessibility standards and often produced readability issues across digital materials.
After discussing these challenges with the CEO, I was given the freedom to redesign the brand identity while keeping the original logo. To appeal to a wide audience, I kept the core blue and expanded the palette with deeper tones, lighter accents and modern gradients. The new system improved accessibility, reinforced the identity and gave the brand a more contemporary presence. Once approved, the updated design was applied to all communication materials including social media, documentation, presentations and printed assets. This created a clear and consistent visual experience across the company.
My work helped drive a +2000% increase in followers, secure partnerships with Amazon Prime Video and Trenitalia, and establish WeShort’s presence at events like Sundance 2023.
With the brand identity reshaped, we began applying it to the product. Our first priority was simplification. The multi-step registration flow was replaced with a one-step onboarding experience that allowed users to explore content immediately, reducing friction and encouraging exploration from the outset.
Business Goals
• Simplify the user registration process to increase sign-ups.
• Improve user retention by making the app more intuitive and engaging.
• Enhance brand recognition and stand out from competitors in the streaming market.
Challenges
• Users were dropping off during the lengthy registration process.
• The app’s visual identity was not strong enough to differentiate the brand.
• The user journey needed to be seamless without requiring upfront payment details.
Constraints
• Limited time to conduct multiple iterations of user testing.
• Maintaining compatibility with existing backend infrastructure.
• Aligning the new design with the freemium model without sacrificing user experience.
To move beyond a standard streaming experience, we introduced Shortie — an AI-powered recommendation engine designed to suggest short films based on user preferences and mood. I collaborated closely with the data analyst and development team, creating prototypes and testing them internally and with real WeShort subscribers.
The first version dynamically altered the homepage, but technical limitations made this approach unsustainable. I then proposed a dedicated Shortie section offering a personalised playlist that users could refresh at any time. This delivered meaningful personalisation while keeping the product architecture stable.
The final experience brought together a modern identity, a simplified onboarding journey, and a human, personalised discovery system powered by Shortie. A complete UI Kit supported consistent implementation and improved collaboration with the development team.
The redesigned WeShort app delivered immediate and measurable improvements: • User engagement increased by 50%, showing stronger connection with the platform.
• Minutes watched across the 250,000-user base grew by 32% in just two months.The new exploration system, driven by preferences rather than a rigid algorithm, led to a 24% increase in short-film submissions.
• Streamlined onboarding reduced sign-up time by 40%, significantly lowering the barrier to entry.
• These results reinforced WeShort’s position as a global hub for short-film culture and validated the design decisions behind the platform’s transformation.
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