Project Overview

ChurchGraphics.com is a subscription-based creative platform designed to help churches create, customize, organize, and schedule church graphics in one connected workflow.

The platform combines:

  • A browsable graphics library
  • AI-assisted editing
  • Project organization
  • Content scheduling

Into a single ecosystem built for church teams.

The goal was not to build another graphics website, but to design a workflow system that helps churches with their creative/comms weekly needs.

idea → graphics → customization → scheduling → publishing

The Problem

Behavioral analytics showed that many users engaged heavily during short-term project cycles, then churned after their immediate need was solved.

Key SIGNALS

  • Month-1 retention: 84%
  • Month-2 retention: 63%
  • Heavy download spikes followed by cancellation
  • Discovery friction within the media library
  • Weak signals encouraging repeat engagement

Core UX Gap

The platform successfully delivered assets, but did not guide users into an ongoing creative workflow.

Engagement dropped from 84% → 63% by Month-2, revealing a gap between initial value and sustained usage.

Audience

User Profile Avatar

Church creative teams, communications directors, pastors, and volunteers responsible for weekly media and sermon visuals.

User Characteristics

  • Often juggling multiple ministry responsibilities
  • Working under weekly deadlines
  • Limited design training
  • Need fast, editable, high-quality graphics
  • Frequently building recurring sermon series and event content
Churchgraphics hero

Final redesign focused on guided discovery, repeat engagement, and reducing creative friction for weekly church workflows.

Research & Insights

To better understand why retention dropped after the first month, I analyzed:

  • Download behavior patterns
  • Platform usage analytics
  • Existing onboarding flows
  • Discovery friction within the asset library
  • Feedback from church creative teams and usability testing

The goal was to identify where momentum broke down between signup, discovery, and repeat engagement.

download behavior

Research revealed strong initial engagement but weak long-term workflow adoption.

Strategic Reframe

The redesign shifted ChurchGraphics.com from:
“A place to download graphics” into: “A guided weekly creative workflow for church teams.”

These insights shaped the strategic principles that guided the redesign.

Key Insights

Users Thought in Events, Not Workflows

Most users arrived with a single immediate need — a sermon series, holiday event, or social campaign. The platform solved short-term problems but did not encourage an ongoing creative rhythm.

Discovery Created Urgency

Many users downloaded multiple assets quickly because discovery felt uncertain. Users behaved as if they might not easily relocate assets later.

Initial Value Was Strong, But Not Progressive

Users experienced value immediately, but the experience did not evolve with their workflow over time.

Design Strategy

The redesign focused on simplifying workflows and guiding users into repeat creative behavior.

design principles

Guide, Don’t Overwhelm

Reduce decision fatigue through clearer entry points, curated discovery, and structured workflows.

Design for Weekly Rhythm

Help users return consistently, pick up where they left off, and plan ahead for future ministry content.

Reduce Decision Friction

Strengthen hierarchy, previews, navigation clarity, and workflow continuity.

Support Growth Over Time

Create systems that increase confidence and usability as users continue using the platform week after week.

User Flows

The onboarding flow was redesigned to reduce friction and help users reach their first meaningful action faster.

GOALS

  • Reduce signup hesitation
  • Improve clarity
  • Simplify onboarding decisions
  • Encourage immediate exploration

Registration flow prioritized simplicity, reduced friction, and quick entry into the platform.

Main User Flow

The primary workflow focused on helping users move smoothly from:

  1. Discovery
  2. Asset Preview
  3. Customization
  4. Download
  5. Schedule Content
  6. Return Usage

The redesign emphasized continuity instead of one-time downloads.

product detail page

Wireframes & Iterations

Early concepts focused heavily on increasing asset visibility and adding more features.

However, research showed the core issue was not lack of content, it was workflow friction and unclear discovery paths.

This shifted the redesign toward:

  • clearer hierarchy
  • simplified navigation
  • guided entry points
  • workflow continuity

The redesign focused on simplifying workflows and guiding users into repeat creative behavior.

Key Iterations

Before

  • Large unstructured browsing experience
  • Weak onboarding guidance
  • Minimal continuity between sessions
  • Limited planning tools

After

  • Structured discovery experience
  • Improved navigation hierarchy
  • Saved projects and favorites
  • Workflow-oriented tools
  • AI-assisted creative entry points
  • Content planning features

Visual Design System

Visual Direction

The interface was designed to feel calm, modern, minimal, and structured — helping users focus on creative work without feeling overwhelmed.

color palette

The visual system combined warm neutrals, dark charcoal contrast, muted olive tones, and soft yellow accents to balance clarity, warmth, and visual focus.

typography

Typography emphasized strong hierarchy, readability, and clean scanning behavior through bold display type and structured supporting text..

components

Reusable systems included:

  • asset cards
  • sidebar navigation
  • filters
  • buttons
  • modal forms
  • workflow modules

Consistent components improved usability and predictability across the platform.

Design System

The design system emphasized consistency, hierarchy, and calm creative workflows.

Design Improvements

Simplified Navigation
Reduced friction and clarified browsing paths across the platform.

Improved Discovery
Reorganized content around workflows and use cases instead of generic categories.

Added Workflow Continuity
Introduced saved projects, favorites, downloads tracking, and planning tools to support repeat engagement.

Strengthened Onboarding
Simplified registration and improved first-action clarity.

Expanded Workflow Tools
Added AI-assisted creation and planning tools to encourage repeat engagement.

NN/g Heuristics in Action

The redesign applied several Nielsen Norman usability heuristics to improve clarity, confidence, and long-term usability across the platform. Saved projects, favorites, downloads, and visual previews reduced cognitive load by helping users rediscover content without relying on memory. The interface also embraced a minimalist visual system that reduced noise and emphasized hierarchy, workflows, and focused actions. Consistent navigation, spacing, typography, and reusable components improved predictability across the experience, while features like saved projects, customization tools, and content planning supported user control and flexible creative workflows over time.

Reflection

what i learned

This project taught me that strong visuals alone do not create long-term engagement.

The bigger challenge was designing systems that support recurring user behavior and reduce friction across weekly creative workflows.

I learned how UX structure, product strategy, behavioral thinking, and visual design must work together to create sustainable experiences.

how my thinking evolved

At the start of the project, I viewed the challenge primarily as a design and discovery problem.

Over time, my thinking shifted toward:

  • workflow systems
  • behavioral design
  • retention strategy
  • experience continuity

The redesign ultimately became less about adding features and more about reducing friction while guiding users into sustainable creative habits.

Good Work Starts With Good Conversations

If something here resonated, I’d love to connect. I believe the best work is built with clarity, trust, and people who care about what they’re creating.