The Audiobook Evolution
Role / Director of Design | Responsibilities / Leadership, strategy, people management
Blinkist built its brand by helping busy people fit learning into their lives through short-form summaries. In 2019, the founders made a major strategic bet: introduce full-length audiobooks — the biggest evolution of the product since launch. The opportunity was compelling: deepen learning journeys, keep users inside the ecosystem, and create a defensible moat as competition increased.
The challenge was equally real: audiobooks sat in tension with our core value prop of short and focused, and neither the product nor organisation had operated in this space before. This was category expansion under ambiguity, with a tight timeline and a value proposition at stake.
The challenge was equally real: audiobooks sat in tension with our core value prop of short and focused, and neither the product nor organisation had operated in this space before. This was category expansion under ambiguity, with a tight timeline and a value proposition at stake.
My role
I partnered closely across product, design and leadership to bring clarity, direction and cross-functional momentum. This included:
- Defining the problem and aligning on success criteria
- Co-leading a rapid design sprint to break ambiguity and test early hypotheses
- Partnering with research to establish foundational learning around behaviour, motivations and listening patterns
- Supporting cross-team alignment as we moved from prototype to production
- Coaching designers through ambiguity and decision-making trade-offs
- Raising strategic questions at executive level to protect the core experience and ensure we moved with intent
My focus was balancing speed, learning and strategic coherence.
- Defining the problem and aligning on success criteria
- Co-leading a rapid design sprint to break ambiguity and test early hypotheses
- Partnering with research to establish foundational learning around behaviour, motivations and listening patterns
- Supporting cross-team alignment as we moved from prototype to production
- Coaching designers through ambiguity and decision-making trade-offs
- Raising strategic questions at executive level to protect the core experience and ensure we moved with intent
My focus was balancing speed, learning and strategic coherence.
Approach
We started by breaking down ambiguity quickly. I led a focused sprint to define the problem, surface risks, map behaviour, and test early hypotheses with users. This created alignment and gave us confidence in the direction before committing to build.
From there, we moved into iterative delivery supported by layered research — foundational research to understand listening behaviour, usability testing throughout development and a post-launch diary study to capture real-world adoption signals.
Designers were embedded in product squads, so I established alignment rituals, shared decision language and channels for critique and escalation. This ensured pace didn’t come at the expense of cohesion or comprehension across surfaces.
How this showed up:
- Design sprint → sharpening clarity, de-risking and understanding value
- Behavioural & foundational research → real context on listening habits
- Iterative usablity tests → reduce risks along the way and refining flows
- Shared rituals & critique → designing for a coherent end-to-end experience
- Coaching & escalation paths → support through ambiguity and trade-offs
Principle
Create clarity early, learn continuously, and maintain alignment as the solution scales.
From there, we moved into iterative delivery supported by layered research — foundational research to understand listening behaviour, usability testing throughout development and a post-launch diary study to capture real-world adoption signals.
Designers were embedded in product squads, so I established alignment rituals, shared decision language and channels for critique and escalation. This ensured pace didn’t come at the expense of cohesion or comprehension across surfaces.
How this showed up:
- Design sprint → sharpening clarity, de-risking and understanding value
- Behavioural & foundational research → real context on listening habits
- Iterative usablity tests → reduce risks along the way and refining flows
- Shared rituals & critique → designing for a coherent end-to-end experience
- Coaching & escalation paths → support through ambiguity and trade-offs
Principle
Create clarity early, learn continuously, and maintain alignment as the solution scales.
Integrating UXR, product design & brand
This work engaged the full design team — product design, research, and visual comms — with each discipline contributing as the problem evolved. The design sprint enabled us to shape the opportunity and test our assumptions about how audiobooks should fit into Blinkist.
Research followed — behavioural interviews and iterative testing that helped us understand how people discover and commit to long-form audio. Product designers then translated those insights into flows and interaction patterns across squads. I kept our existing crit rituals strong and set up dedicated sessions when we hit meaty problems, ensuring the experience stayed coherent as we worked in parallel.
One thing became clear early: users couldn't tell Blinks (our original short-form content format) from audiobooks at a glance. I worked with our Visual Comms lead to evolve the cover system. We moved away from stock photography toward a scalable visual language that clarified format and supported comprehension.
Research followed — behavioural interviews and iterative testing that helped us understand how people discover and commit to long-form audio. Product designers then translated those insights into flows and interaction patterns across squads. I kept our existing crit rituals strong and set up dedicated sessions when we hit meaty problems, ensuring the experience stayed coherent as we worked in parallel.
One thing became clear early: users couldn't tell Blinks (our original short-form content format) from audiobooks at a glance. I worked with our Visual Comms lead to evolve the cover system. We moved away from stock photography toward a scalable visual language that clarified format and supported comprehension.
Release
We shipped across iOS, Android, and web in March 2020 (days before COVID lockdowns). The release included:
- Full audiobook experience and purchase flow
- Refined navigation and content model
- New cover system for format clarity
- Web purchase flow for audiobook credits
- Full audiobook experience and purchase flow
- Refined navigation and content model
- New cover system for format clarity
- Web purchase flow for audiobook credits
Challenges
This was a meaningful shift for the business, done while continuing to run the existing product. We were working in unfamiliar territory — none of us had deep experience with audiobooks — and there were open questions about how they'd fit our core value.
My priority was keeping the team supported and informed through that ambiguity. I created space for honest discussion, gave designers tools to make decisions with confidence, and coached on when to challenge versus align. I surfaced strategic questions early so unresolved tension didn't sit with the team.
The work was demanding, but the clarity and rhythm we built helped the team navigate it.
My priority was keeping the team supported and informed through that ambiguity. I created space for honest discussion, gave designers tools to make decisions with confidence, and coached on when to challenge versus align. I surfaced strategic questions early so unresolved tension didn't sit with the team.
The work was demanding, but the clarity and rhythm we built helped the team navigate it.
Outcomes
Despite COVID timing, early signals showed promising traction:
- Higher monthly renewal rates among audiobook purchasers
- Strong repeat audiobook buying behaviour
- Qualitative feedback validating multi-format value
- Institutionalised discovery + research practices for future bets
- Higher monthly renewal rates among audiobook purchasers
- Strong repeat audiobook buying behaviour
- Qualitative feedback validating multi-format value
- Institutionalised discovery + research practices for future bets