02 / COMPASS · STAFF UX DESIGN LEAD · 2021–2022

A $1M business with a $10M target, and eleven clicks in the way.

I redesigned Digital Ads end to end, balancing speed for set-and-forget agents and depth for power users while Compass scaled through its IPO.

Role: Staff UX Designer, Project Lead
Scope: Digital Ads Redesign & Marketing Center Integration
Research: 20+ agent teams
Focus: Scale · Impact · Systems

Read the case ↓

+120%Revenue
generated

11→2Minimum clicks
to activate

+74%New
customers

−8.2%Listing days
on market

Compass Digital Ads shown across desktop, tablet, and mobile devices — PRODUCTDigital Ads across desktop and mobileCreation, campaign management, and reporting designed as one connected experience.

01 — THE SETUP

An aggressive business target for a product agents barely knew about.

When I joined, Compass was scaling rapidly in the lead-up to its IPO. The OKR landed right before I did: take Digital Ads from about $1M a year to $10M in twelve months.

The Digital Ads tool let real-estate agents create and place ads across multiple channels from one place in Compass. Underneath this simple promise sat variable formats, generated creative, budget, duration, targeting, and reporting.

I was tasked with leading the design of Digital Ads 2.0 — a complete revamp of the existing tool, including 15+ new features. Before changing any screens, I ran meetings and workshops to get alignment within the team and build a CUX Northstar Framework around three things: understand behavior, improve discovery, and reduce friction.

Understand
behavior→Improve
discovery→Reduce
friction→Grow
the business

Original Compass Digital Ads selection, design, and booking screens — BEFOREThe original creation flowStatic ad selection, design, and booking spread across a long, form-heavy journey.

02 — THE CHALLENGE

One product. Two opposite definitions of control.

Serving the set-and-forget agent and the control-everything agent at the same time was a complicated balancing act.

Some agents wanted to press one button. Others wanted to hand-pick every character, budget, platform, and format.

Optimizing for either one breaks the other. We condensed the default path to almost nothing, while keeping flexibility and depth underneath.

Compact Digital Ads purchase summary beside its expanded editing controls — PRODUCT MODELSimple by default, detailed when neededA compact purchase summary expands into creative, targeting, budget, and payment controls.

THE DECISION

Design the experience around agent intent, use the data Compass already had to automate and pre-fill likely choices, and let control unfold only when someone asks for it.

03 — WHAT I DID

Research, product structure, refined experiences, and a reporting system built to scale.

Went beyond the existing personas.

With a UX researcher, we interviewed 20+ agent teams, from solo agents to 40-person operations, then paired that work with competitive studies and usability tests.

Agent interviews, competitive research, prioritization, and the Digital Ads CUX Northstar — RESEARCHAgent interviews20+ agent teams, competitive research, prioritization, and a framework for future decisions.

Reframed creation around intent.

The redesigned entry points made agent intent explicit: promote a listing, build your brand, generate leads, or feature a listing. Personalized previews showed each agent what to expect before setup.

Original Digital Ads catalog beside the personalized second-generation entry screen — PRODUCT EVOLUTIONFrom option overload to intent-led entry pointsThree iterations moving from a dense catalog to personalized, outcome-based choices.

Second- and third-generation Digital Ads entry screens showing clearer intent-based choices — PRODUCT EVOLUTIONFrom option overload to intent-led entry pointsThree iterations moving from a dense catalog to personalized, outcome-based choices.

Made campaign management responsive and easier to act on.

I redesigned the dashboard and mobile experience so agents could understand campaign status, spend, results, and comparisons from any screen. Benchmarks and key insights made performance easier for less experienced agents to interpret and act on.

Digital Ads campaign reporting dashboard on desktop and mobile — RESPONSIVE PRODUCTCampaign management on every screenPerformance, spend, status, and comparisons across desktop and mobile.

Built a reporting standard designed to extend across Compass products.

I led and co-created a data-visualization system and color palette designed to set a standard for reports across the Compass platform—not only Digital Ads.

Compass reporting charts, visualization patterns, and color system — DESIGN SYSTEMA reporting language built to travelShared chart patterns and categorical, extended, and divergent palettes for the wider Compass platform.

04 — WHAT HAPPENED

Less friction. More control. A product designed to grow both agents’ businesses and Compass.

+120%Revenue generated

$140→$210+Average spend per ad in five months

11→2Minimum clicks to activate an ad

+400%Attribution to agent profile views

−8.2%Listing days on market

+74%New customers

The product was on pace to beat the $10M OKR with six months still to run.

Four mobile screens showing the Compass Digital Ads creation and payment journey — MOBILE DIGITAL ADSCampaign creation from discovery to paymentA product designed to meet agents wherever they worked.

“Allen consistently brought great ideas to the products that we were working on and was able to balance many competing priorities. No matter what stage of the product lifecycle we were in, his solutions were thoughtful and polished. Allen continuously refined the user experience to turn a complicated user journey into something that was simple and delightful.”
Annie P. · Senior Product Manager

SELECTED ARTIFACTS

Inside Compass.

Creation flowTwo-click default path with progressive control · 16:9 (2400×1350px)

Mobile campaign viewPerformance and management on smaller screens · 4:3 (2400×1800px)

Reporting systemShared data-visualization patterns and palette · 16:9 (2400×1350px)

Research synthesis20+ agent teams and behavioral themes · 4:3 (2400×1800px)

Market PlacePortfolio strategy beyond Digital Ads · 16:9 (2400×1350px)

Cross-platform patternsPayments, integrations, and shared components · 4:3 (2400×1800px)

05 — LOOKING BACK

Scale increases the stakes of every tradeoff. It makes getting the balance right even more critical.

Alongside Digital Ads, I led design across six additional projects and contributed to hiring, cross-team reviews, and growing the design organization from 33 to 120+.
The products shipped. The system traveled further.