2024 - 2025
Cricut
Expanding the Horizon for Design Space Filters
2024 - 2025
Cricut
Expanding the Horizon for Design Space Filters
Background
Cricut is a tech company that helps people bring their creative ideas to life with smart cutting machines and a companion app called Design Space. With it, users can design custom projects to cut or print-and-cut right from their machines. At Cricut, I focus on improving the user experience within the Search & Subscriptions pod—making it easier for users to find what they need quickly, reduce friction, and stay in their creative flow without getting stuck in the search process.
Core Problem
When I first joined the Search pod—while still working on the Subscriptions team—one of my first projects was redesigning our filters. I was excited to jump in because, honestly, the filters were a bit of a mess. They didn’t match our UI, weren’t helpful to users, and the worst part? They couldn’t be collapsed. With the filters always expanded and the left-hand navigation open by default, more than 45% of the screen was taken up—leaving just 55% for actual results. That kind of layout seriously limited content discoverability, which meant longer search times and fewer conversions.
The Approach
To fix the issue, we decided to completely rebuild the filter panel from the ground up. We introduced new, research-backed filters that were actually useful to our users, added the option to collapse the panel, and made sure the left nav and filters couldn’t be open at the same time—so we could avoid that 45% screen takeover. This new design didn’t just improve the experience in Search—it also set the standard for how filters would work across the rest of Design Space
Steps Taken
I started by running an audit of Design Space to see what we were missing, then paired those findings with competitive research to help guide us in the right direction..
From there, I shared early mockups during UX brainstorms to make sure the proposed filters worked well with efforts from other pods—since this feature would impact more than just the Search experience.
Once we had a solid direction, I refined the UI to match the finalized UX behavior, focusing on creating a smoother, more intuitive experience for users.
I also led final UX reviews and worked closely with the team on a gradual rollout strategy, helping us track the impact of the changes and confirm they were moving the needle on key metrics.
Key Features
New specified filters.
Ability to hide the filter panel.
New standard for filters in Design Space.
Results and Impact
This was my first major project on the Search pod, and I learned a ton along the way—I genuinely enjoyed every bit of the growth that came with it. The new filters were really well-received by the Cricut community and made the overall experience a lot simpler and more seamless. The transition is still ongoing, and we’ve recently brought the filters into Canvas, where they now live in our panels—solving even more issues that the old filters had created.
2024 - 2025
Cricut
Expanding the Horizon for Design Space Filters
2024 - 2025
Cricut
Expanding the Horizon for Design Space Filters
Background
Cricut is a tech company that helps people bring their creative ideas to life with smart cutting machines and a companion app called Design Space. With it, users can design custom projects to cut or print-and-cut right from their machines. At Cricut, I focus on improving the user experience within the Search & Subscriptions pod—making it easier for users to find what they need quickly, reduce friction, and stay in their creative flow without getting stuck in the search process.
Core Problem
When I first joined the Search pod—while still working on the Subscriptions team—one of my first projects was redesigning our filters. I was excited to jump in because, honestly, the filters were a bit of a mess. They didn’t match our UI, weren’t helpful to users, and the worst part? They couldn’t be collapsed. With the filters always expanded and the left-hand navigation open by default, more than 45% of the screen was taken up—leaving just 55% for actual results. That kind of layout seriously limited content discoverability, which meant longer search times and fewer conversions.
The Approach
To fix the issue, we decided to completely rebuild the filter panel from the ground up. We introduced new, research-backed filters that were actually useful to our users, added the option to collapse the panel, and made sure the left nav and filters couldn’t be open at the same time—so we could avoid that 45% screen takeover. This new design didn’t just improve the experience in Search—it also set the standard for how filters would work across the rest of Design Space
Steps Taken
I started by running an audit of Design Space to see what we were missing, then paired those findings with competitive research to help guide us in the right direction..
From there, I shared early mockups during UX brainstorms to make sure the proposed filters worked well with efforts from other pods—since this feature would impact more than just the Search experience.
Once we had a solid direction, I refined the UI to match the finalized UX behavior, focusing on creating a smoother, more intuitive experience for users.
I also led final UX reviews and worked closely with the team on a gradual rollout strategy, helping us track the impact of the changes and confirm they were moving the needle on key metrics.
Key Features
New specified filters.
Ability to hide the filter panel.
New standard for filters in Design Space.
Results and Impact
This was my first major project on the Search pod, and I learned a ton along the way—I genuinely enjoyed every bit of the growth that came with it. The new filters were really well-received by the Cricut community and made the overall experience a lot simpler and more seamless. The transition is still ongoing, and we’ve recently brought the filters into Canvas, where they now live in our panels—solving even more issues that the old filters had created.
2024 - 2025
Cricut
Expanding the Horizon for Design Space Filters
2024 - 2025
Cricut
Expanding the Horizon for Design Space Filters
Background
Cricut is a tech company that helps people bring their creative ideas to life with smart cutting machines and a companion app called Design Space. With it, users can design custom projects to cut or print-and-cut right from their machines. At Cricut, I focus on improving the user experience within the Search & Subscriptions pod—making it easier for users to find what they need quickly, reduce friction, and stay in their creative flow without getting stuck in the search process.
Core Problem
When I first joined the Search pod—while still working on the Subscriptions team—one of my first projects was redesigning our filters. I was excited to jump in because, honestly, the filters were a bit of a mess. They didn’t match our UI, weren’t helpful to users, and the worst part? They couldn’t be collapsed. With the filters always expanded and the left-hand navigation open by default, more than 45% of the screen was taken up—leaving just 55% for actual results. That kind of layout seriously limited content discoverability, which meant longer search times and fewer conversions.
The Approach
To fix the issue, we decided to completely rebuild the filter panel from the ground up. We introduced new, research-backed filters that were actually useful to our users, added the option to collapse the panel, and made sure the left nav and filters couldn’t be open at the same time—so we could avoid that 45% screen takeover. This new design didn’t just improve the experience in Search—it also set the standard for how filters would work across the rest of Design Space
Steps Taken
I started by running an audit of Design Space to see what we were missing, then paired those findings with competitive research to help guide us in the right direction..
From there, I shared early mockups during UX brainstorms to make sure the proposed filters worked well with efforts from other pods—since this feature would impact more than just the Search experience.
Once we had a solid direction, I refined the UI to match the finalized UX behavior, focusing on creating a smoother, more intuitive experience for users.
I also led final UX reviews and worked closely with the team on a gradual rollout strategy, helping us track the impact of the changes and confirm they were moving the needle on key metrics.
Key Features
New specified filters.
Ability to hide the filter panel.
New standard for filters in Design Space.
Results and Impact
This was my first major project on the Search pod, and I learned a ton along the way—I genuinely enjoyed every bit of the growth that came with it. The new filters were really well-received by the Cricut community and made the overall experience a lot simpler and more seamless. The transition is still ongoing, and we’ve recently brought the filters into Canvas, where they now live in our panels—solving even more issues that the old filters had created.