Up next — 2017–2019
Built into the Workflow:UX and Front-End for a GitHub-Integrated Code Quality Platform
UX DesignFront-end EngineeringUser Research
Designing for Scale:Making Sesimi DAM the Go-To Platform for Global Brands
UX DesignUser ResearchFront-end EngineeringProduct
Client
Sesimi (core product, serving all clients)
Role & Contributions
UX Design, User Research, Front-end Engineering, Product
Timeline
2020 - current
Tools
Figma, Linear, TypeScript, React, Tailwind, Storybook, Mixpanel, Intercom Surveys
Overview
One of the main Sesimi products ias the Digital Asset Management platform serving global automotive brands, franchise networks, and public sector clients. I joined when the product was a barebones MVP — before the first enterprise client had onboarded — and led its evolution over five years into a platform used by 10,000+ people daily.
Challenge
As Sesimi onboarded global brands like Toyota, Lexus, Volkswagen, and Audi, the platform struggled to keep pace with scale and complexity. Users faced fragmented workflows, unreliable asset management, and manual processes that broke down at enterprise scale.
Approach
Continuous embedded research with 1,500+ daily active users surfaced four recurring workflow bottlenecks. I led the design and delivery of four platform-level capabilities to address them — Social Integrations, Datablocks, Collections, and Approvals & Versioning — evolving the MVP without fragmenting the product.
Results
Platform expanded from AU-only to North America. 10,000+ total users, publishing workflows 40% faster, campaign setup 30% faster, approval turnaround 25% faster. Recognised in AFR Fast 100 & Fast Starters 2024.
Research & Discovery
We embedded research into every stage of development — client usability testing with Toyota Canada, Audi US, and Volvo Australia; interviews with dealers, brand managers, and admins across regions; and continuous analytics from 1,500+ daily active users via Mixpanel, Hotjar, and LogRocket. Four workflow bottlenecks consistently emerged and directly shaped our roadmap.
- Campaign fragmentation → led to Collections
- Data management errors → led to Datablocks
- Cumbersome approvals → led to Approvals & Versioning
- Manual publishing issues → led to Integrations
User Needs
Two distinct but tightly interconnected user groups shaped the entire product strategy. End users — dealers, marketers, franchisees — needed fast, intuitive access to the right assets with confidence in version accuracy. Enterprise stakeholders — agencies, head office, brand teams — needed a unified platform to manage campaigns across brands and regions without disconnected tools.
Strategy
The strategy was not to reinvent, but to evolve alongside real client usage. Starting from an MVP before the first enterprise client onboarded, the focus shifted toward identifying recurring workflow bottlenecks and solving them with reusable, platform-level capabilities — maintaining product coherence while serving increasingly complex clients over five years.
User Flows
Mapping the journeys of both user types revealed where the platform was creating friction. Brand managers needed to set up, approve, and distribute campaigns across regions without leaving the platform. Dealers needed fast, confident access to the right assets — without navigating complex folder structures or waiting on approval chains. Before/after flows made the improvements concrete and gave the team a shared reference for every subsequent design decision.
Datablocks
Account managers repeatedly uploaded CSVs for campaign data — offers, pricing, URLs — with formatting errors frequently leading to rejections. We introduced inline-editable tables with instant validation feedback and a searchable card view for organising data blocks, matching users' existing spreadsheet mental model while adding guardrails. Time to update campaign data dropped from 12.4 to 8.7 minutes on average.
Collections
Users struggled to group assets into campaigns and share them across teams, with large library navigation being time-consuming and error-prone. Collections introduced campaign folders with visual-first previews. A familiar folder metaphor with powerful collaboration features reduced campaign setup time by 30%.
Approvals & Versioning
The old approval system was rigid — approvers could only reject assets, forcing users to restart entirely. We redesigned the workflow with a Request Changes status, approver-created versions, a side-by-side version drawer, and auto-updating embeds. This was especially valuable for public-sector clients like City of Melbourne with strict compliance cycles. Approval turnaround times reduced by 25%.
Testing & Validation
Validation was embedded throughout development. Pre-onboarding usability testing with Toyota Canada surfaced navigation issues before any enterprise user touched the live product. Progressive onboarding of Volkswagen, Audi, and Dräger refined edge cases that improved the platform for all clients. The final legacy migration in 2025 consolidated all clients onto the DAM, validating the evolutionary approach.
Impact
The platform expanded from AU-only to North America, growing to 10,000+ total users across global automotive brands, franchise networks, and public sector clients. Sesimi was recognised in AFR Fast 100 & Fast Starters 2024. Publishing is 40% faster, campaign setup 30% faster, and approval turnaround 25% faster — compounding across 1,500+ daily active users and 7,000+ monthly active users.
Social Integrations
Dealers manually downloaded assets and re-uploaded them to Facebook, Instagram, Google Ads, and Carsales — wasting time and risking compliance errors. We designed a one-stop publishing flow with direct API integrations and auto-updating embeds for websites and Jira tickets. Publishing workflow time dropped by 40%, with adoption expanding across Australian and international automotive networks.