Summary
A critical internal tool had become too difficult to use and too disconnected from the product to be effective. Black Diamond's Broadcast tool lets internal teams send platform updates, maintenance notices, and announcements to firms. Over time the experience had degraded — confusing message types, a cumbersome creation workflow, and a location outside the main product that limited visibility. I led the end-to-end redesign to improve usability, streamline message creation, and integrate Broadcast into BD Home.
Platform
Black Diamond Wealth Solutions
The Problem
Internal teams were fighting the tool instead of using it
Message types were frequently misunderstood, making consistent communication difficult. Creating a broadcast required more steps than the task warranted. Audience selection was cumbersome. And because Broadcast lived outside BD Home, adoption was limited and the experience felt disconnected from everything else in the platform.
Tools
Sketch
Goals
Three objectives drove every decision: usability, consistency, and efficiency
Simplify the workflow for creating and managing broadcasts. Align the experience with established Black Diamond patterns and form structures. Reduce repetitive work through better audience selection and message cloning.
The Solution
The biggest fix wasn't the layout — it was rethinking how messages were classified
The existing types — Informational, Important, Urgent, and System — forced users to make a subjective judgment call every time. I replaced them with content-based categories: Events, General Updates, Marketing, Release Updates, Reconciliation Delays, and System Maintenance. The decision shifted from "how urgent does this feel?" to "what kind of message is this?" — a question with a clear, consistent answer.
Beyond classification, the creation workflow was rebuilt to reduce friction at every step
Audience selection was streamlined. Broadcast cloning eliminated repetitive setup for recurring message types. Information hierarchy was improved so the most important fields were foregrounded. Form patterns were standardized to match the rest of the platform. And Broadcast was integrated into BD Home, bringing it into the primary product experience for the first time.
Outcome
The redesign turned a standalone internal tool into a product-integrated communication system with a foundation for future growth
Expected impact includes increased BD Home adoption, faster firm communication, and reduced confusion during broadcast creation. The project also established scalable messaging patterns that will support future firm-to-user communication initiatives across the platform.
Role
Sole Product Designer
Duration
3 Months