Standardizing campaign planning @ Spotify
1 Designer, 4 devs, 1 PM, over 5 months
Product Design
Desktop
Research
UI Design
~3-5 minute read
The Problem
Media planning is the process that Spotify uses to determine when an ad will run, who it will target, and what type of format is used to convey a clients campaign message. When I joined the Tooling, Integrations, and Labs team at Spotify, our ad sales teams lacked a centralized platform for creating media plans for campaigns. This led to a few major issues:
Fragmented workflows across teams & verticals.
Users spending more time on feasibility over creativity.
Eroded client confidence & direct impact to revenue.
Previous Attempts
This was not a new problem at Spotify. An earlier attempt to solve the problem (a tool called Godzilla), established the foundation but did not scale. It was built on Coda and lacked adoption due to limited usability and flexibility.
Research
From conducting 10+ user interviews and shadowing 5 CSMs and CPs, the insights that I uncovered were:
Original proofs of concept were designed to ingest text and translate that into structured line items within the plan. This was not the way to solve the problem.
Users needed clarity on the system and the knowledge required to actually plan campaigns. How can we abstract away the complexity without stifling creativity?
Originally, we wanted to standardize data entry. However, by targeting earlier in the flow to target ideation too, we could more effectively standardize the outputs.
Process
Knowing that the bread and butter of the media planning process was going to be how line items were displayed, this was the first section of the workspace I set out to solve for. Here is how it evolved:
Once the line item section was complete, I focused on the surrounding workspace that would be built around line items. This included a header and toolbar section that would allow users to actually build their plan. Here is the evolution:
Solution
From testing with users throughout the design process, I knew that they needed the platform to not force uncomfortable patterns for the sake of standardization. The updates that are reflected balance ease of use with a guided experience in a way that de-fragments the workflow without sacrificing adoptability.
Design highlight 1
Line items are grouped by category, reducing time to create one by 49% compared to previous platforms.
Design highlight 2
Inline editing for any cell within a line item allows for focused edits without reopening the creation modal.
Impacts
The alpha of this product launched in early October 2025. While I don't have as measurable impacts as I would like, here is what we know so far:
Manual formatting time of media plans has been reduced by about 20%
Early adopters love it
Time to first draft of media plans has gone from days to hours.
Reflections
Design's role in this team
This was the first time the team had a dedicated designer. Establishing a clear handoff process and consistent design rituals became essential for building trust and velocity. The experience showed me how structure and documentation can be as impactful as the designs themselves.
Data rich and unfamiliar environments
Before this project, I had never encountered media planning. It came with its own language, logic, and legacy workflows that felt nearly impossible to parse at first. By setting clear design principles and using them as non-negotiable guardrails, I was able to navigate the complexity with confidence. Decisions became less about “I hope this works” and more about “I know why this works.”