IMVU Studio
IMVU Studio is a next-generation UGC creation tool built to replace the outdated legacy platform. Designed to empower creators of all levels, it offers a seamless way to build, publish, and monetize digital products—addressing platform shifts, usability gaps, and tech debt from the original system.
Client
IMVU
Deliverables
User Research User Flow Information Architecture Visual Design Prototypes Design System Design Ops & Management
Year
2018 - 2022
Role
Design Lead, Manager
Research & User Segments
Before designing IMVU Studio, we needed to understand who we were building it for. The legacy tool had served a wide range of creators over more than a decade, but lacked clarity around user needs and priorities. I conducted interviews, audits, and usage analysis to identify patterns across the creator spectrum. This helped us define four primary user segments, which directly informed UX decisions—from interface complexity and workflows to onboarding and in-app guidance.
Professionals | Hobbyists | Potential Creators | Consumers |
|---|---|---|---|
Full-time, technically savvy creators focused on productivity and monetization. | Casual creators seeking learning, expression, and part-time engagement. | IMVU users exploring low-barrier tools and creative opportunities. | Shoppers aged 18–24 (60% female), seeking quality content and easy creator discovery. |
Challenges
As we began shaping IMVU Studio, it became clear through user interviews, legacy audits, and stakeholder alignment that we weren’t just rebuilding a tool—we were untangling a complex mix of outdated infrastructure and broken user workflows. We grouped challenges into two major categories:
Technical & Platform Challenges:
The original creator tool, launched in 2007, suffered from deep tech debt.
Apple and Microsoft’s 64-bit mandates rendered the 32-bit legacy tool unsustainable.
The legacy client was being deprecated, requiring many dependent systems to be rebuilt.
User Experience Challenges:
The legacy tool’s UX was fragmented and frustrating: disorienting navigation, inconsistent visual patterns, broken features, and minimal error handling.
Core workflows—like publishing and visual previewing—were difficult to understand without tribal knowledge.
The lack of in-tool guidance and feedback led to frequent user errors and stalled creative momentum, especially for new or less technical creators.
Goals & Strategy
Our goals were clear: ensure uninterrupted content creation during infrastructure migration, empower creators with modern tools, and enhance usability and discoverability.
To achieve this, we used a two-fold strategy:
Reach feature parity, then evolve — Prioritize continuity for existing creators while gradually introducing improved workflows and features. This helped maintain trust while paving the way for change.
Design from both ends — Take a top-down approach to align with long-term platform goals, while also solving ground-level usability issues raised by creators through research and testing.
Design Approach
Preproduction
We mapped out the product lifecycle and creator economy to ensure the new tool fit naturally into existing workflows.
UI Framework
We divided the interface into functional modes based on distinct creator actions:
Home Mode: Dashboard for content management.
Derivation Mode: Starting point for product creation.
Edit Mode: Full creative suite (meshes, textures, animations).
Popups & Tutorials: Contextual guidance to reduce friction.
Design System
Creating a scalable, unified design system was foundational to the success of IMVU Studio.
Built a flexible system with over 1,500 reusable components, supporting an evolving feature set across 50+ releases.
Developed color schemes, iconography, motion, and spacing rules tailored to the needs of creators and IMVU’s visual DNA.
Established documentation and naming conventions to support collaboration across design, engineering, and QA.
Enabled rapid prototyping and consistent delivery by codifying patterns across tools and workflows.
Below are some of the most frequently used components from the IMVU Studio design system, showcasing consistency, scalability, and attention to detail.
Leading Design-Ops
Team & Operations
As design lead, I established the UX foundation for a multi-year platform initiative:
Built UX operations from the ground up, introducing workflows, rituals, and documentation from scratch
Mentored and managed a growing team of 3 designers, enabling ownership and cross-functional collaboration
Led over 50 design releases through alpha, beta, and public launch—ensuring continuity, polish, and scalability
UX Process
Our process evolved alongside the product’s complexity. We centered our workflow around a continuous UX loop:
Discover – Audited the legacy tool, interviewed creators, and mapped friction across the workflow
Design – Explored prototypes collaboratively, tested early and often, and prioritized creator-first UX
Deliver – Supported engineering and QA with detailed specs, documentation, and hands-on iteration
Reflect – Regularly reviewed outcomes, adjusted team practices, and scaled improvements back into the system
Results
The success of IMVU Studio was reflected not just in adoption, but in tangible business and community outcomes:
Over
80% of top creatorsmigrated to the new platform within the first 12 months, validating its usability and reliability.More than
12 million productswere created and sold using Studio, revitalizing the IMVU marketplace with fresh, high-quality content within the first 12 months.Studio-generated content contributed to over
$5 million in revenue, reinforcing the platform's role as a core driver of IMVU’s creator economy.
Testimonial
The creator community responded with energy and enthusiasm:
