A New Shopping Experience Built in Partnership with YouTube

My Role

Product Designer

Responsibilities

User Journey Flow
Wireframes
Usability and A/B Testing
Design System
Assistant to Senior Designer for Research

Team

01 Sr. Product Designer
01 Product Designer
02 Product Owner

01 Product Manager
05 Full stack developer

Projects Timeline

Tagging Chrome Extension:
November 2016 – February 2017

Mobile Application:
May – November 2017

Lookbook Web Application:
June 2017 – May 2018

Integrated CMS Backend:
February – May 2018

Project Background

MYN is reimagining how we shop online by seamlessly integrating E-commerce with YouTube videos. Fans can effortlessly discover and purchase products featured by their favourite influencers, blending entertainment with convenience.

With the Tagging Chrome Extension, creators can turn YouTube videos into shoppable experiences, while fans shop directly without leaving YouTube. For deeper exploration, the Web and Mobile Apps offer curated lookbooks and smart navigation, connecting users to products and YouTube inspiration.

By bridging the gap between fans, creators, and retailers, MYN transforms content into commerce, unlocking new opportunities for discovery and engagement.

My Accomplishments

Designed an intuitive shopping flow integrating YouTube videos, making it easy for fans to discover and purchase products.
Created a Chrome Extension for seamless product tagging by creators.
Empowered retailers to connect with engaged audiences through influencer-driven commerce.
Delivered a consistent experience across Web App, Mobile App, and Chrome Extension.
Increased engagement rates by 2% through iterative testing of the Lookbook Web App, with fans exploring multiple products in one session.

01 Research

Uncovering the Gaps: What Did We Learn About Social Commerce Before MYN Took Shape?

$1.91 Trillion

Global e-commerce sales in 2016, with 34% from mobile commerce. Despite this growth, platforms like Amazon, Etsy, and eBay lacked seamless social commerce integration. (Statista, 2016 | Forbes, 2016)

$220

The average order value on Polyvore, proving the strong purchasing intent when content and commerce are integrated. However, by 2016, Polyvore declined due to community retention challenges. (Yahoo News, 2015 | TechCrunch, 2016)

¥300M RMB

Annual earnings of influencer Zhang Dayi on Taobao, showcasing the power of influencer-driven commerce in China. Yet, Western platforms lacked tools like product tagging and real-time insights to support similar success. (Wired, 2016 | SocialMediaToday, 2016)

02 Key Take Out

E-commerce was booming, but social commerce was underdeveloped.

MYN was designed to fill these gaps.

Polyvore showed the potential of curated content + shopping but failed to scale.

China’s influencer commerce (wanghong economy) proved successful, but Western platforms lacked similar tools.

What We Learned from the Influencer Market & Emerging Opportunities?

21.1

Billion
Influencer marketing was already a $1.7B industry in 2016, signaling a shift in consumer trust toward creators. (Statista, 2016)

49%

of Consumers
Nearly half of online shoppers relied on influencer recommendations, yet platforms lacked seamless product tagging. (Business Insider, 2016)

95%

of YouTubers

Most creators weren’t fully monetizing their influence, relying only on ad revenue and manual affiliate links. (Forbes, 2016)

Opportunities for Consumers & Fans

Simplify product discovery by allowing instant shopping from videos.

Reduce the friction of searching across multiple platforms.

Provide a seamless, engaging shopping experience linked to the content they trust.

The Opportunity For Creators & Influencers

Effortlessly tag products without disrupting their workflow.

Offer a better monetization model beyond ads and manual affiliate links.

Create a stronger connection with their audience through interactive shopping.

From YouTube to Checkout: Shop Seamlessly on MYN Application

Fans watch YouTube on their phones, but shopping from videos is frustrating—affiliate links are scattered, searching is tedious, and checkout is disruptive.

To solve this, we built the MYN mobile app, powered by data from the MYN Chrome Extension. Creators tag products directly in their YouTube videos, and the app fetches this data, curating influencer profiles and lookbooks for fans to explore.

With YouTube API integration, the home feed personalizes recommendations based on viewing habits. Shopify-powered in-app checkout ensures purchases happen without redirections, making mobile shopping effortless.

Flow Chart: A Frictionless Path to Purchase

With Shopify integration, users can shop directly within the MYN app. No redirections, no friction. Products are added to an in-app cart, processed through Shopify, and completed in a smooth, one-click checkout experience.

To further enhance usability, MYN leverages YouTube’s API to personalize the home feed, suggesting influencers and products based on the user’s viewing habits. This ensures fans discover relevant items without the hassle of searching manually.

Web Application Lookbook

Web Portal

Mapping the Journey: How Creators Link Their YouTube Account

A platform that enables shoppers to buy products from YouTube videos. And increase a more significant engagement of fans and influences.

There are a few different entry points that we design for each target user.

Thinking through from organic user and influencers point of view, for talents we strategic to send signup invitation. Once they create their page, they embed it into the description in their channel.

Unveiling the Evolution of Cero—How User Insights Transformed Frustration into Seamless Design

01 Before

Why the First Version Failed ?

The first version of the creator feed featured five-second product videos that played on hover, with details expanding in a bubble.

While innovative, usability testing revealed a major flaw: the inconsistent layout. Products of varying sizes and no clear structure overwhelmed users, creating cognitive load and leaving them frustrated and unsure where to focus.

How Did Users Show Us the Way Forward?

Testing revealed that users wanted a way to explore similar products linked to each video.This would help them find alternatives when the featured product wasn’t suitable.

The design ultimately failed due to its chaotic layout and lack of clarity, but it highlighted the need for a consistent structure and features that support effortless product discovery.

02 After

How Did We Turn User Frustration into a Seamless Experience?

The final iteration fixed key failures of the previous version by introducing a consistent layout to reduce cognitive load and adding a “similar products” feature for deeper exploration.

The confusing hover-to-play interaction was replaced with intuitive click-to-play functionality, complete with clear play indicators. These refinements transformed the feed into a streamlined, user-friendly experience.