Valerie E. Lianggara 🥐


WORK︎︎︎ ABOUT︎︎︎




Verizon Fios TV

OVERVIEW • TCS INTERACTIVE • UX/UI DESIGN

— building on the unified mobile and web experience for Verizon’s Fios TV subscribers.








Role
Product Designer
Team
Valerie Lianggara
Nicole Yuen
Sean Ayeltigah
Claire Lorman
Jackie Walbank
Tymon Grobelski
Charlotte Price
Skills
Web Design
UI/UX Design
Research
Prototyping
Visual Design
Tools
Figma
Sketch
Zeplin
Timeline
June 2022 - Ongoing



Overview


The Verizon project is the longest on-going project in the company, and I’m here to enhance the experience across all their products. I represent the Unified Mobile and Web experience team, which is the companion app and website for their Fios Custom Launcher.

Some of my day-to day responsibilities include:


︎︎︎ Transitioning from Sketch to Figma
︎︎︎ Maintaining the design system ​(Brand 3.0)
︎︎︎ Creating competitor audits
︎︎︎ Organizing workshops and engaging with the community
︎︎︎ Updating designs based on syncs with developers & client







EXPLORE

Understanding Verizon


I joined the team by learning everything about Verizon. The media/streaming industry is one that I wasn’t too familiar with, so I initiated a lot of conversations with the other designers on the team and the project lead to learn about Verizon’s dynamic and design decisions so far. I then took the information that I had and used it to explore on my own, which helped me better understand the product and services we had to offer.




Some things I took ownership of ︎︎︎



ONE

Migration from Sketch to Figma


Before I joined the team, the main software of choice for designing was Sketch. And although Sketch is amazing, Figma is a lot faster in the cloud and allows us to collaborate in real time. We saw a more efficient workflow with Figma, which was worth the transition.

I came in with pretty confident skills in Figma, which made the transition very enjoyable on my end. Alongside a fellow designer who was on Verizon’s TV team, we both took ownership of the migration, starting with design system libraries to templates. This allowed us to define a universal system all in one place.



TWO

Brand 3.0


Alongside the migration to Figma, we also worked within the bigger team to harmonize the product and brand of Verizon by launching Brand 3.0, which we like to call the next generation of the Verizon brand. 

Brand 3.0 evolves the assets that connect up how we look and how we behave to shape an experience that’s uniquely designed for Verizon. It is being rolled out across the Verizon suite of products.

As part of the Brand 3.0 updates, the core Verizon design system ​(VDS) for web & app is being updated to reflect the changes. We are using VDS 3.0 to inform our work on the TV design system, ensuring it is also Brand 3.0 compliant.





My role: Narrowing it down to the specific UMW product, which is my project, we aim to update the designs using the core VDS 3.0 library. I was in charge of the UMW Component and Templates Library, ensuring a seamless behavior across all breakpoints and finding ways to mimic TV’s design pattern.
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THREE

Competitor Audits

In the early stages, I conducted a lot of competitor audits just to get my head around TV/streaming products as a whole. This not only improved my research skills, but also gave me a better understanding of specific features within a streaming/VOD product.


FOUR

Community


︎︎︎ Onboarded new people on the team
Just like how I came into the Verizon team in the middle of the project, there are others who joined after me. As someone who has been there longer and possess more knowledge regarding the product we’re building, I onboarded them and was always there to answer any questions. 




︎︎︎ Organized workshops and team retrospectives
One of my career progression goals has always been to improve my leadership skills and step out of my comfort zone. I’m really grateful that I’ve been given a platform to grow and learn, so organizing workshops and retrospectives were a good starting point. There’s a fun opportunity there to make them as creative and fun as you’d like, which is what I did when I was given the chance to host them. I’ve received good feedback on them, and look forward to hosting more throughout my career.



Led design system onboarding for internal team


Organized a Christmas themed team retro



FIVE

Syncs with developers & client


As a team, we have sync calls twice a week externally: once with the developers and once with the client. I have had the opportunity to lead both calls from time to time, taking turns with my other team members.

︎︎︎ Design/Dev Sync
This initially started when building the product together with the developers and client. With the designs we’ve made, we align with them to see if they are feasible and translatable to be shipped. But ever since the MVP launch, these syncs typically go through bugs and fixes within the existing product. 


︎︎︎ Client working session

Before submitting it to the developers, we typically sync with the client regarding any bugs, fixes and changes based on their request. Additionally, we like to present proactive solutions or any new designs they would like to see for the next launch.






REFLECTION

Key Takeaways


I’ve been part of the Verizon team since I joined W12 (now TCS Interactive), and I came in with majority of the design system and almost all of the epics already built. I initially felt like I wouldn’t get to make big design decisions because of this, and imposter syndrome started to overcome me as I never worked on a product that was in sync with TV. I’ve always wanted to design a media platform, so I soon took this opportunity to constantly learn. Learn about the product, ask the dumbest questions, and gain all the feedback I can get. Even though I felt like everyone around me was so much better than I was that I refrained from speaking up at first, the Verizon team helped me get over this by showing me how valuable they thought my contributions were and pushed me to be more vocal. This is something I’m constantly working on everyday.

A big shoutout to my manager, Sean Ayeltigah, for his thoughtful mentorship and advocacy. I was nervous and have never worked with a TV-first platform, but he was always there to answer my questions and valued my opinions. He made working with Verizon such a safe space for me to learn and grow, and never failed to acknowledge my efforts in front of the client. :)

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