A children’s audio story app had loyal listeners. It lacked two things: reasons to come back and ways to earn more. I designed a shop, a gift voucher, a paid content pack and new features inside the app. Everything had to look as if it had always been there.
At a glance
Product: children’s audio story app with a subscription
Delivered with: fireup.pro
My role: UX/UI designer, from analysis to mockups
Scope: book shop, gift voucher, “English with Peanut” content pack, user account, search, offline mode, new dashboard
Outcome: a working app and website with a shop, gift voucher and paid content pack, new happy users
Starting point
I took over an existing app with its own mood and its own audience. The brand’s stories have millions of plays on YouTube.
Parents liked the app, but apart from the subscription there was nothing else to buy. They couldn’t buy a story as a printed book, give it as a gift or add an extra series.
The hardest part wasn’t designing
The hardest part of this project was… holding back.
When you take over someone else’s work, it’s easy to add your own style, “fix” things your way or change details because you would have done them differently. Here, that would have been a mistake.
The app was gentle, calm and a little magical. I had to understand what the original designer had in mind, not show how I would have designed it from scratch. It was more detective work than creative work.
Reading between the lines
Before designing anything, I analysed a few things:
- how the hierarchy works,
- how the components behave,
- where the aesthetic limits of the project are,
- what is intentional and what is accidental.
The goal was for the new features to look as if they had always been there.
One brand, several paths to purchase
Sales aren’t a separate shop next to the app. They appear where parents already are: on the home page, on a new story’s page and next to locked content in the app. After the purchase, they lead back to listening. The voucher includes a code for the app, and the book about Lenka comes with a QR code.
[IMAGE: 02_mapa_sprzedazy]
The purchase path
Parents buy for their children, so they look for reassurance and don’t have time for long forms. So:
- the cart opens in a side panel and doesn’t take you away from the product page,
- you can check out as a guest, and logging in is optional,
- payment and delivery use familiar options: BLIK, instant transfer, courier and pickup point,
- the lowest price from the last 30 days is shown next to the price.
The “English with Peanut” pack
This is an add-on pack of bilingual stories. Parents pay once and keep access forever. It includes two seasons of stories, songs, printable materials and offline listening.
In the app, locked content shows a “No access” screen with two options: “Buy content” or “Cancel”.
Gift voucher
The voucher turns the subscription into a gift. The buyer picks 3 or 12 months and gets a PDF with a code by email. They can print it and put it in an envelope.
Story characters speak for the interface
The animals children know from the app got new roles:
- a puzzled bunny for “No access”,
- a fox for a successful order,
- a hedgehog announcing new products and inviting people to the newsletter.
Thanks to them, the new screens instantly belong to the same world.
Story search
As the library grows, parents can no longer find a specific story. Adding search meant changing the bottom navigation. I had to add an icon without breaking the layout and keep everything clear. It still had to feel like a fairy tale, not a technical tool.
Downloads and offline mode
Stories are played in the car, on the train and on the plane, often without signal. We added a “Download” button and a separate section for saved stories. The most important things were that:
- users understand right away what is happening,
- children don’t tap anything by accident,
- nothing looks forced in.
Dashboard redesign
The dashboard had to fit the new features and still feel light. Search is visible right away, and downloaded stories have their own place. The whole screen became more interactive but stayed calm, with nothing shouting for attention.
Outcome
The app and the website are live. The shop, the gift voucher and the “English with Peanut” pack are available to users.
A product that earned mainly from subscriptions now has new revenue streams: books, vouchers and paid content packs. Each of them leads back to listening.
The app gained new users, and parents enjoy using it. The new features didn’t take away its mood. That mattered most to me.
What I learned
Good design doesn’t always mean starting from scratch. Sometimes the most valuable things are adapting, staying consistent and respecting the existing concept.
Selling inside a product works when it shows up at the moment someone already wants something.
Features that keep people coming back are rarely flashy. Search and offline mode don’t look impressive on a slide, but they decide whether people return.
The biggest success of this project is that my presence as a designer is almost invisible. That’s exactly how it should be.
Delivered in collaboration with fireup.pro.