Marve AfoProduct designer

Designing AI Managers Could Trust

T.L.D.R.

Redesigned VML's peer feedback tool so employees always knew where they stood, and turned an AI summary concept into a human-assisted interface managers trusted.

  • Won 3 Awards
  • Lauded by C-Suite Leadership

Role

Sole product and visual designer
reporting to the Global Director of Talent and Org Effectiveness.

Key Stakeholders

  • Product Manager: Global Director, Talent and Org Effectiveness
  • Brand Sign-Off: Executive Director, Global Marcomms
Thrive at VML title card on a purple stepped pattern

I created this GIF as part of the marketing materials used to promote 1 of Thrive’s more recent iterations.

The Problem

“Where Was I?”

A Process Spread Too Thin to RememberThrive came to VML through the 2023 merger with Wunderman Thompson: a custom Power App running inside Microsoft Teams. It guided employees through a year of feedback and performance conversations in steps spaced weeks apart. Each time people returned, they had to figure out where they'd left off, and the circular diagram, showing every step at once, didn't make that easy. Managers had it worse, reading five or more long feedback submissions per employee before every conversation. The product manager wanted AI to lighten that load.

Sneak Peek

Before

Original Thrive Home Screen

Original Thrive home screen: purple everywhere, a crowded top bar and a circular step diagram
Everything Competing at OncePlenty purple, a crowded top bar, and every step shown at once left little clear to focus on.

After

Redesigned Thrive Home Screen

Redesigned Thrive home screen: white space, sidebar tabs, Start Here videos and a step table
More White Space, Less CompetitionMore white space and a cooler background sharpened the visual hierarchy so content could stand out, like the AI coach added to the hero display for easy access.

The Brand Had to Stand on Its Own
Thrive's original look belonged to a company that no longer existed. My PM's first idea was a three-way sub-brand system uniting VMLY&R's Drive Your Career, Wunderman Thompson's Authentic Personal Brand, and Thrive. I explored directions built on fingerprints for authenticity, vines for growth, and fragments of the VMLY&R snowflake. In the end, the Executive Director of Global Marcomms narrowed the work to one new VML-aligned palette, which set the direction for every screen.

Thrive brand explorations: the THRIVE wordmark, Authentic Personal Brand and Drive Your Career marks with fingerprint and vine motifs

4 Step Fix

  1. Test
  2. Redesign Decisions
  3. Prototype AI
  4. Onboard

Testing

What Users Told Us

I wrote the test plan and ran four 45-minute moderated sessions with my PM, serving as the primary note taker. The findings were consistent. People weren't sure where to start, and they could jump into any step regardless of what they'd completed. Some didn't recognize the onboarding videos as videos, clicking the language and download icons instead of play, because nothing on the card said "watch this."

User Testing Notes

A sample of rough user test observation notes

Moderated test notes for one participant, before and during the test Sticky notes: not sure where to navigate, overwhelmed by the first screen, missed notifications, scrolled past Start Here

Redesign Decisions

Old top bar crowded with buttons and filters
New top bar with a notification bell and a single help icon
My To Do and My Team tabs

Fewer Buttons Made the Starting Point ClearTesters didn't know where to start. I moved the view switcher into sidebar tabs and folded Resources, Help, and support contacts into one "?" icon.

A Moving Bell Made Reminders Hard to MissTesters missed key notifications, so I animated the bell to flag anything new.

The old circular step wheel

Built for
Return Visits

A Table Made Progress TrackableA wheel explains a process but is hard to track. A table shows returning users exactly where they left off laid out from left to right, top to bottom in natural reading order.

Locking Future Steps Kept Users on TrackTesters could click into any step, even ones they weren't ready for. Now only the current step is clickable, so users can't go the wrong way. (Highlighted in yellow)

Clearer Statuses Showed What Needed AttentionSix statuses, a feedback request checklist, and each quarter's lock date put everything due in one view.

The new step table by quarter, with the current step highlighted in yellow and status keys Feedback Requests checklist with one colleague's feedback completed
Before: video card with a globe icon and no play button
After: video card with a play button

Building A Personal Brand With THRIVE

Play Buttons Made Videos Look Like VideosTesters mistook the videos for articles. Each card now has a title, a play button, and a video icon.

Confetti Confirmed the Finish LineTesters missed the message telling them they were done, so a celebratory animation now makes the end of each cycle unmistakable.

Prototype

AI Summaries Managers Trusted

My PM explained the initial flows. I refined them and turned them into real Figma mockups across multiple rounds. Managers read every submission first, generating a summary was optional, and they could edit it before using it. Employees and managers both knew where AI was involved. This process saved managers time on reading and manually combining and summarizing feedback from as many as 10 direct reports.

Manager view: AI feedback summary for Valerie with strengths, opportunities and values, and career conversation prompts
AI summary submission flows: save draft, ready to submit checklist, and all done confirmation

Onboarding

1 Video Led to 10 More

I produced the first 3 onboarding videos with on-screen callouts showing exactly where to look. A production team used those 3 initial videos as the template for the remainder of Thrive tutorial videos.

Results

Recognition

“Human-Assisted, Not Human-Replacing”

“A brilliant and practical use of AI… With 10 direct reports it’s a time-saver... the perfect example of Human-assisted not Human-replacing.”— Global Chief Strategy Officer

  • WorkLife Awards 2024Most Dedicated to Employee Growth

  • WorkLife Finalist 2024Best Use of AI in the Workplace for Thrive's AI coach and AI-generated feedback features.

  • Business Culture Awards 2024Best Personal Development, Coaching & Mentoring Initiative

  • Engage Awards 2024Best Use of Technology to Drive Employee Engagement

Reflection

Confident,
But Not Confirmed

What I'd Do DifferentlyI'd push for a quick validation round before launch. Development time was expensive, but testing a Figma prototype wasn't. Even two or three sessions would have confirmed the redesign fixed what the first four found. The feedback from managers suggests it did. I'd just rather have known before launch.