Premium UI
Jan 2026 to Present
I created a premium UI direction for Global Player’s new subscription product, going beyond ad‑free listening to make the interface itself feel like an upgrade.
That pitch became the foundation for Global Player’s premium brand extensions, with the first subscription now live across platforms as of August 2026.
Final Versions - NDA protected: In development - planned release in early September 2026.
Role
Lead Product Designer
Team
3x Engineers
2x Product Owners
2x QA Engineers
Problem area
Global Player set a 2% subscription conversion goal, but the initial proposition focused almost entirely on ad‑free listening.
Behaviourally, this positioned the upgrade as removing a mild irritation rather than adding clear new value. Without visible, premium cues in the UI, users had little reason to re‑evaluate their default “stay free” choice. The initial proposition for subscriptions focused mainly on ad‑free audio, which felt functional but not emotionally rewarding.
~TLDR:~
Context: New subscription layer inside existing Global Player apps
Challenge: “Ad‑free” alone didn’t feel premium enough to justify paying
Design question: How might we reward users by offering a truly premium UI, not just removing ads?
Opportunity 1
Design a visual concept that can excite stakeholders to believe in a premium version of Global Player through storytelling.
Opportunity 2
Try something cool & new.
View the full pitch deck on Figma
View my CV
Design decision 01
I chose to frame the subscription flow as a short story about a relatable listening moment, rather than a static paywall. To make the experience feel elevated and expressive, I used AI to generate colourful abstract backgrounds, giving the system a wider, more dramatic colour range for premium states.
Applied psychology
Storytelling effect & picture superiority: Turning the upgrade into a small story with strong visuals makes it more memorable and emotionally engaging than a simple “remove ads” message.
Aesthetic‑usability effect & halo effect: A more beautiful, cinematic visual treatment makes the entire subscription feel higher quality and more trustworthy, which increases perceived value.
Curiosity gap: Distinctive, expressive backgrounds create a sense of “something special” that draws users in to explore what the premium tier includes.
How it started
Design decision 02
To move fast and stay realistic, I grounded all explorations in existing Global app implementations.
I leveraged our established design system, especially colour tokens and the Live Radio variable system, so premium UI could be rolled out quickly without reinventing core components.
Applied psychology
Familiarity bias & mental models: Reusing familiar patterns reduces cognitive load and friction, because users don’t have to relearn how to navigate just to upgrade.
Cognitive load & recognition over recall: Keeping core interactions consistent lets users recognise patterns instead of having to recall new ones, making the upgrade feel easy and low‑effort.
Default bias: By layering premium on top of an already‑familiar system, you make upgrading feel like a natural extension of what users already do, rather than a risky change.
Design decision 03
Global Player is multi‑brand and multi‑platform, but a fully scaled premium identity across every station was too ambitious, especially for day one.
I made a deliberate decision to scale down to a single, recognisable premium marker: the blue “Plus” badge. (see below)
This created a clear, ownable visual cue for subscriptions and enabled a faster go‑to‑market, with a path to expand later.
Applied psychology
Hick’s law: A single, simple premium marker (“Plus” badge) reduces the complexity of choices and makes it easier for users to understand what “premium” means.
Visual hierarchy & von Restorff effect: The blue “Plus” badge acts as a standout visual anchor, making premium content easy to spot and remember among many brands.
Goal‑gradient effect: A clear, repeatable badge gives users a visible target to aim for (“Plus” content), making it feel like a tangible step up from the free experience.
Default bias (nudged): By consistently marking premium with one badge, you gently nudge users to notice and consider “Plus” as a normal and desirable part of the ecosystem.
Retrospective
This project reminded me that simple, focused solutions are often the most effective when timelines are tight. In three days, I could not design the perfect, fully scaled subscription ecosystem for every brand and platform. What I could do was choose a clear story, a small set of strong visual ideas, and a single, recognisable premium cue. Stripping the concept back in this way made it easier for stakeholders to understand, easier for engineers to ship, and easier for listeners to recognise as “something worth paying for”.
Apprved versions and the not so smooth implementation journey has reinforced the value of stepping outside my comfort zone when the door opens, rather than waiting on a “safer” option.
Pitching with partially AI‑generated visuals, pushing bolder premium treatments, and framing the work as a narrative rather than a traditional paywall was a risk. It could have been rejected as too experimental. Instead, it helped me show a different side of my practice and proved that I could combine system thinking with expressive, premium UI design. That risk paid off.
The future of subscriptions on Global Player is looking bright, and I play a major role in shaping where it goes next. The initial sprint has grown into an ongoing partnership with my lead designer, where I continue to influence the subscription product direction and its implementation across brands and platforms. This case taught me that when you are given a rare chance to try something new and let your creative side out, you should take it, and then work hard to turn that spark into a sustainable, shippable system.
Branded Plus Orbs for Image Assets
Learning 01
Trying to design the “everything” version of subscriptions in 3 days would have diluted the work. Committing to a simple, shippable premium layer (story, visuals, Plus badge) made the concept clearer, more persuasive, and more realistic to deliver.
Learning 02
Leaning into AI‑generated visuals and a more cinematic, narrative approach was outside my usual comfort zone. That creative risk helped stakeholders see me not just as a systems/UI designer, but as someone who can set a premium visual direction.
Learning 03
Grounding the premium experience in existing tokens and patterns reduced friction for both users and the team. Familiar foundations meant we could afford to be more expressive with premium states without increasing cognitive load or delivery risk.
Learning 04
Treating this sprint as the start of an ongoing conversation, not a one‑off deck, helped me stay involved as subscriptions evolved. That early work now underpins a growing premium ecosystem, and I continue to influence its direction and implementation.
