Context

At PosterMyWall, an online design tool used by small businesses, educators, and creators, I worked on improving the experience of finding design templates. As our community kept growing, so did the number of templates on the platform. While this was exciting, it also created a major challenge: helping users navigate an overwhelming number of options to find what they needed quickly and easily.

User Need

Users came to PosterMyWall to get inspired and quickly create visual content. But they were spending too much time searching for templates—especially first-time users who didn’t yet know how to narrow down results. They needed a faster, more intuitive way to browse and filter templates visually.

Current Constraint

The template search experience was cluttered and confusing. Heatmaps and analytics revealed that users were interacting with multiple competing search bars, a large header that took up 30% of the screen, and a complex sidebar with too many filtering options. Our horizontal masonry layout also limited content visibility. On the backend, search results were fragmented by theme, keyword, and size, all served differently.

Design Challenge

How might we simplify and unify the search experience so users can find relevant templates faster—without having to restructure our backend architecture or delay the release timeline?

Impact

I started with a task analysis to streamline user flows and worked closely with engineering to consolidate the search logic while preserving performance. I redesigned the interface to unify filters by grouping theme and size, separating them from keyword search. I created low- and high-fidelity wireframes in Figma to test new layouts and filter logic, eventually introducing an advanced search interface.

The redesigned experience reduced dwell time by 12%, helped new users find templates more efficiently, and boosted overall conversion. By making the search feel more visual and less overwhelming, we encouraged users to spend less time browsing and more time designing—which directly supported business goals.