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Daniel Ballesta

Info

Daniel Ballesta

Info

Daniel Ballesta

Info

Red Bull Editor App

Product Design

User Research

User Testing

Design System

Product Strategy

Product Design

User Research

User Testing

Design System

Product Strategy

Agency

OkayBueno

Role
Product Designer

Duration
6 Months

Red Bull Owned Media operates globally across more than 100 countries, managing a vast ecosystem of digital platforms, channels, and publishing tools. These platforms allow the brand to create and distribute its own content, build a consistent identity, and connect directly with its audiences without relying exclusively on paid or traditional media.

The Editor App was at the heart of Red Bull’s Owned Media ecosystem, used daily by thousands of employees to create, edit, and publish stories across more than 100 markets. Despite being the most-used tool (covering over 80% of daily activity), the Editor App was far from efficient: its interface was outdated, workflows were fragmented, and many essential tasks had to be done manually.

This inefficiency was costing users a significant amount of extra time every day, time spent repeating the same actions across multiple locales, searching for hard-to-find assets, or navigating through a homescreen that offered little value. Instead of supporting productivity, the app often slowed it down, creating frustration and lost hours across the company.

Agency

OkayBueno

Role
Product Designer

Duration
6 Months

Example of article created using the Editor App.

After conducting extensive research into the wider Red Bull Backend Applications ecosystem, it became clear that the Editor App was a major source of user pain points and required a redesign. The goal was to reduce inefficiencies, improve discoverability, and transform the Editor App into a smarter, more supportive tool, while ensuring continuity in daily publishing operations.

Research

User research revealed critical inefficiencies in the Editor App related to:

Repetitive workflows when publishing across multiple locales

Poor search performance without exact IDs

An underused homescreen showing only a generic ‘last edited’ list

Limited visibility into story performance.

These issues were costing employees significant time every day, forcing them to repeat actions, struggle to locate assets, and work around an app that often slowed them down instead of supporting productivity.

Addressing these pain points became the focus of our redesign, aiming to transform the Editor App into a smarter, more supportive tool while ensuring continuity in daily publishing operations.

Slide from the initial design audit deck I prepared for stakeholders.

Slide from the initial design audit deck I prepared for stakeholders.

Goals & Design Strategy

Our strategy for the Editor App was to transform it from a static, task-driven tool into an intelligent hub that actively supported editors in their daily work. Instead of simply providing a place to input and edit content, the redesigned app needed to anticipate user needs, reduce friction, and create a smoother flow across tasks.

The design goals were therefore both practical and strategic. On the practical side, the priority was to automate repetitive tasks such as bulk editing and metadata updates, which had been identified as some of the biggest time sinks during research.

Regarding the mobile version, users felt their work was too complex for mobile and preferred desktop, though we still explored a simplified version for the future.

On the strategic side, we aimed to surface contextual insights and reminders directly within workflows, so users wouldn’t need to jump between tools or rely on memory to stay aligned with mandatory tasks and performance updates.

Another goal was to reimagine the homescreen. Previously it was underutilized, showing only a generic list of “last edited” items. We wanted to turn it into a personalized dashboard, giving each editor a starting point that reflected their priorities through widgets like reminders, insights, and upcoming events. Finally, we set out to improve content discovery across locales, making it easier for editors to find, reuse, and adapt stories from other markets, an essential step for strengthening collaboration and efficiency at a global scale.

Key Design Solutions

Based on the research findings, we translated user needs into a set of targeted design solutions. This led to a complete redesign of the Editor App, though here I will highlight only the most notable, disruptive, and necessary changes and features to keep it concise.

From Generic to Insightful: The New Homepage

The Editor App homescreen was a missed opportunity. Users relied on it mainly to create new assets or to search and filter for specific content.

However, landing on the homescreen before even searching showed only a generic list of assets sorted by ‘Last Edited,’ identical for every user. Since most people went straight to the Search Bar or Create button, we saw an opportunity to offer something far more useful in this space.

The new Homepage we designed for the Editor App.

Each widget was designed to surface the right information at the right time, helping users stay on top of tasks, access content faster, and reduce the friction of daily publishing.

The Localisation Opportunities widget highlights stories from other markets that are gaining traction and could be adapted locally.

By surfacing this content directly on the homepage, editors can easily spot high-performing stories, translate or localize them, and bring relevant content to their audiences without having to search manually across different portals.

Having a Recently Edited widget will give users an overview and quick access to the last assets or configs opened recently.

It enables faster workflows by allowing users to pick up their work whenever needed.

Event Opportunities gives editors an overview of upcoming events, with filters for local or global highlights, helping them spot which events still need translation into their locale.

Lets users discover Trending Topics across global markets and inspires local content, keeping it fresh and relevant.

Content Page

The old Home page, now renamed Content, left users confused and offered little value. Research revealed issues like poor hierarchy, low contrast, unclear status, and an underpowered search.

The new Content page addresses these shortcomings by rethinking the experience from the ground up. Instead of a generic feed, it now provides a more functional overview with stronger hierarchy, clearer differentiation between drafts and published assets, vertical cards that make better use of space, and more visible filtering and search options. Together, these changes turn the page into a real working hub where editors can quickly find, evaluate, and act on the content that matters most.

Old Homepage (what we would call now old Content Page)

NEW

Content Page

Asset Detail Page

The new Asset Detail Page offers a much clearer and more focused experience. Content is prioritized, while metadata remains accessible in a smaller, well-organized panel.

A live preview has been added so editors can see assets as they build them, and actions are now far more intuitive thanks to a simplified, better-structured set of buttons. The modular layout also includes a focus mode that expands to the full width of the screen, making it especially useful for editors.

Altogether, the page feels cleaner, more supportive, and better aligned with the editor’s workflow.

Old Homepage (what we would call now old Content Page)

NEW

Asset Detail Page

Showcase video of the Asset Detail Page features

New Feature: Bulk Edit

Bulk Edit was introduced to save editors time by allowing them to update multiple assets/locales at once. Instead of repeating the same action across dozens of items, like changing metadata, adding tags, or updating locales - users can now apply edits in bulk. This reduces repetitive workflows, minimizes errors, and speeds up publishing operations significantly.

“Adding Metadata is one of the most time consuming tasks, even more when you have to edit a number of fields to multiple other locales.”

“A Bulk Editor would be great, any kind of automation that reduces manual labor and human errors would be helpful.“

“Repeatable tasks could be solved by Bulk Editing.“

“Adding Metadata is one of the most time consuming tasks, even more when you have to edit a number of fields to multiple other locales.”

“A Bulk Editor would be great, any kind of automation that reduces manual labor and human errors would be helpful.“

In the Editor App, assets must first be saved and then published before they become available online. In the next Bulk Editing example, I’ll update a metadata field across multiple locales of the same asset in just a few seconds:

Bulk Edit feature for the task: “Change a field value for multiple locales of the same asset.”

New Feature: AI Translation

To speed up localization, we introduced an AI Translation feature in the Editor App. Instead of manually translating high-performing articles from other markets, editors can now generate an instant draft with AI and only review it. This saves significant time and effort.

Red Bull valued the idea so much that I built a simple MVP implementation within a week. What follows now is the full version of the feature in a scenario where a Spanish editor localizes an English article.

AI Translate feature embed in Editor App workflows.

Image Cropping

During user research, one of the recurring requests was the ability to crop images directly inside the Editor App. Editors often had to adjust visuals externally before uploading them, which added extra steps and slowed down their workflow. To address this, we introduced an Image Cropping feature that allows quick, in-app adjustments, saving time and keeping the publishing process seamless.

Image Cropping feature embed in Editor App workflows.

Impact & Learnings

The redesign had a tangible impact on how editors worked. By providing real-time visibility on story performance, it encouraged greater reuse of successful content across locales.

The homescreen was transformed into a personalized dashboard, helping editors save time and reduce friction in their daily workflows. Consistent patterns from the new Gravity design system also shortened onboarding for new employees, while the ability to easily discover and localize top-performing stories from other markets contributed to higher article performance across global locales.

32%

Less time for editors to complete tasks

49%

Faster asset searches, cutting search time

40%

less repetitive manual work through bulk editing

The Editor App project highlighted the power of addressing specific in-app solutions within a larger ecosystem. By focusing on the most critical tool in Red Bull’s workflow, we achieved both immediate user benefits and strategic alignment with the broader goals of unification, efficiency, and scalability.

I collaborated closely with the Product Manager on strategy and with the Red Bull team throughout the process, while leading presentations and stakeholder alignment to ensure clarity. At the same time, I was responsible for all research and design work.

I collaborated closely with the Product Manager on strategy and with the Red Bull team throughout the process, while leading presentations and stakeholder alignment to ensure clarity.

At the same time, I was responsible for all research and design work.

Another valuable aspect of the project was the handoff and collaboration with developers. Since the Editor App could never stop working or block the daily operations of thousands of users, the integration had to be progressive. This careful rollout ensured continuity, avoiding any disruption that could have had dramatic economic consequences for Red Bull, while still allowing us to bring new features and improvements into production.