MSA
Role: Design Lead
Timeline: 2020–2022
Brand strategy | UX/UI design | Product development
Consumer trust | Content systems | Creative leadership
Design systems | Cross-functional collaboration | E-commerce
Transforming a content brand into a trusted consumer product
When I joined MSA, it had recently been acquired as well-established review blog and was preparing for its next stage of growth. The challenge was evolving the brand into a more credible, scalable, and user-focused experience capable of competing in an increasingly crowded review and commerce landscape.
Working across brand, product, content, engineering, community and partnerships I helped lead a comprehensive redesign focused on improving trust, usability, and long-term growth. The work touched everything from visual identity and user experience to content systems, product launches, and design operations.
The goal was simple: help users make better purchasing decisions while creating a stronger foundation for the business behind the scenes.
01Evolving the Brand
MSA had recently acquired a well-established review site with a loyal community and strong content foundation, but the brand no longer reflected the quality of the work being produced. As the company prepared for its next phase of growth, I led efforts to modernize the visual identity, elevate the overall experience, and create a more credible, trustworthy presence for both readers and partners.
The challenge wasn't reinventing the brand—it was helping it grow up. The new system needed to feel more polished and professional while preserving the accessibility and authenticity that had earned the trust of its audience in the first place.
02Designing for Trust
The content was strong, but the user experience still felt more like a hobbyist blog than a trusted consumer resource.
Working closely with product and engineering teams, I helped redesign the site's information architecture, user flows, and overall experience to better serve both existing community members and first-time visitors. Content was reorganized to make recommendations easier to navigate, comparisons easier to understand, and purchasing decisions easier to make.
At the same time, the platform needed to support new business goals, including brand partnerships, sponsored content opportunities, and improved SEO performance—all without compromising the trust that made the site valuable in the first place.
03Shaping the Editorial Voice
Designing for a review site presents a unique challenge: the visuals need to feel engaging and distinctive without undermining credibility.
I helped develop a visual system that balanced personality with authority, creating a framework that supported editorial storytelling, product recommendations, partner content, and marketing initiatives while maintaining a consistent sense of trust.
The result was a more cohesive experience where design reinforced the site's expertise rather than competing with it.
Outcome
The rebrand helped transform a recently acquired content property into a more polished, trustworthy, and scalable consumer experience.
More importantly, the work established stronger systems for collaboration between creative, product, and engineering teams while creating a foundation capable of supporting future growth. The experience reinforced my belief that strong brands and strong products are most effective when they are built together—not separately.
