Designing the first-ever livestream experience for music, podcast, & book creators—one that strengthens connections with global audiences and unlocks opportunities for monetization—all under 7 hours.
TIMELINE
7 hours (April 2025)
ROLE
Product Designer
TEAM
3 Product Designers
1 Product Manager
SKILLS
Product Strategy
Interaction Design
Visual Design
Challenge
Results
CHAPTER 1 / PROBLEM SCOPE
This challenge isn't just about design—it's about product strategy.
DESIGN-A-THON PROMPT
The problem space we were given stressed inclusivity
HOW MIGHT WE…
Essentially, our solution had to be inclusive for all users (creators & listeners) and content (including music, books & podcasts).
DIRECTION
Given our strengths, we took on a product-centered approach
With three designers + a product manager, we were a team that especially knew how to design our own products + features that actually ship.
Meet our team
So instead of going for wild, out-of-scope ideas, we asked ourselves:
What could Amazon Music launch tomorrow to help creators + fans while boosting engagement + monetization?
OPPORTUNITY
We found that creator-listener relationships face blockers when it comes to globalization
After auditing the creator-listener space, we settled on a direction. Instead of focusing on content discovery, we wanted to take the next step + strengthen existing creator-listener relationships.
HOW MIGHT WE…
HOW MIGHT WE…
SOLUTION
INTRO / FINAL DESIGNS
Strengthening connections between creators and global audiences.
A creator-hosted livestream experience powered by translation and AI-driven features.
Explore a creator live-stream hub
Never miss your favorite artists’ livestreams—see what’s live now or scheduled next.
Understand your favorite creator + their fans in real-time
With live-translated captions and comments, fans can engage instantly without waiting for community translations.
Or, press + hold on the screen to hide comments and overlays for a distraction-free viewing experience.
Joined late? Read an AI-generated summary before you interact
Gain minute-by-minute context so you can jump in and start interacting with creators + fans.
Support your favorite artists with exclusive offers
Access event tickets and discounted merch as rewards for attending creator live-streams.
The best part? It's not just for music creators
Interact with your favorite authors and podcasters on Amazon Music!
CHAPTER 2 / RESEARCH
Why live-streams? Globalization is a rising phenomenon, + so is live content.
MARKET RESEARCH
Creators are trying to go international + fans are loving it
You may have noticed from Coachella 2025 that there were huge artists—some not even from English-dominated nations. Korean entertainment is the perfect example of successfully globalized content that has achieved massive profit, proving that platforms for globalization are what's needed right now.
PRODUCT VALIDATION
Our live-streaming solution was further backed by research
We also focused on competitive audits + literature analysis to validate our solution, while gaining insights on what our solutions' features would look like.
LITERATURE ANALYSIS
INSIGHT #1
Direct interaction between creators + fans satisfy + benefit both parties, but…
COMPETITIVE AUDIT (AMAZON MUSIC)
INSIGHT #2
…none of the big rivals offer live or even basic interactions between creators + listeners…
COMPETITIVE AUDIT (LIVE-STREAMING)
INSIGHT #3
…and current live-stream platforms are designed more for every day people, not creators*.
RESEARCH BACKED APPROACH
Based on our insights, we focused on features that benefit both creators + listeners
After research, we asked ourselves: how might we deepen listeners' relationships with creators, while expanding creator fanbases globally? This question ultimately guided us through our feature ideation and prioritization exercises.
ENABLING LISTENERS TO SUPPORT + KEEP UP WITH THEIR FAVORITE CREATORS
EXPANDING CREATOR FANBASES TO INCLUDE GLOBAL AUDIENCES
CHAPTER 3 / EXPLORATIONS
Exploring engagement + monetization while keeping the live-stream center-stage.
POLLS
Making room for direct interaction + other features with scalability
Initially I had a pop-up for polls, but after considering our other features, I opted for a consistent sheet design that allowed for flexibility—creators can add 4+ poll options or longer questions. This sheet design can be applied to other features as well (such as finding tickets).
LIVE-STREAM PROMOTIONS
Designing contextually relevant + subtle creator promotions
I then explored ways to promote creator events during live-streams, and ultimately settled on a non-intrusive + temporal design. This way, it is a lesser distraction to the main live-streaming content.
This toast design also enables flexibility for when the promotion is triggered—for example, it may appear 5 minutes into the live-stream or when a creator mentions the concert (with the help of AI).
POST-STREAM PROMOTIONS
Encouraging fan engagement through exclusive deals
Lastly, I iterated post-live-stream designs + incorporated exclusive discounts as a thank-you gift for users who tuned in for a live-stream's entirety. This feature is designed to support creators while encouraging users to join more livestreams in the future.
CHAPTER 4 / DESIGN SYSTEM
A scrappy design system was better than none at all.
DESIGN SYSTEM
I documented only what we needed to align our team along the way
Amazon Music had given us a few colors + fonts, but we soon realized that we had to design our own components.
Each team member was designing their own screens, so I documented our components early on to streamline our process, avoiding confusion over which button to use or which component had already been designed.
CONCLUSION / OUTCOME
We won 'Best Visual Design' + were praised for our product strategy!
WINS
We accomplished what we wanted to achieve: a shippable, validated feature
Our product strategy approach to this challenge proved to be a success! Although we won an award for visual design, we also received verbal praise for our shippable designs.
JUDGE QUOTE
– Principal Product Designer @ Amazon Music
NEXT STEPS
Designing for creator POV + other devices
Let's be realistic—we can't just ship live-streams tomorrow. There are still flows and responsive designs we would need to figure out!
STEP #1
How should it look + feel when creators create + host live-streams?
STEP #2
What does this experience look like on desktop and tablet screens?
AFTERWORD / LEARNINGS
Thinking about product strategy should be harder than pushing pixels.
MAIN TAKEAWAY
Don't jump into an idea just because it sounds cool
None of us expected to spend most the design-a-thon just thinking, ideating, & researching.
As a team, we took the calculated risk of sacrificing design time to prioritize coming up with a product-focused opportunity that Amazon Music would benefit from. And evidently it paid off!
KEEP READING
