Global Search - MasterClass
Redesigning MasterClass Search to improve clarity, relevance, and cross-platform consistency—strengthening discovery across Web, iOS, and Android.
Making Search Searchable.
Overview
At MasterClass, I led the end-to-end redesign of our Search experience across Web, iOS, and Android. This project followed the success of the Library redesign I also led, and became the next strategic step in strengthening content discovery across the platform.
Search was one of the primary ways members navigated MasterClass’s catalog, yet the existing experience made it difficult to understand the breadth of content, recognize relevance, or meaningfully explore. My goal was to reimagine Search as a clear, intuitive, and expressive entry point—one that supported how people actually browse and learn.
As the lead designer, I collaborated closely with Product, Engineering, Data Science, UX Research, and Design Systems to define the vision, build scalable patterns, and deliver a cohesive cross-platform experience.
Role: Lead Product Designer, UX/Visual Design
Background
Search had been intentionally deprioritized during the Library redesign due to scope, but post-launch data made the opportunity unambiguous: a significant portion of users began their journey with Search—not with browsing.
Two key insights shaped the opportunity:
Users relied on Search more heavily than expected.
Users lacked clarity about content types and relevance.
Goal
We set out to improve both Search Quality and Search Engagement.
We aimed to:
Make Search easier to find by placing it in the global nav
Improve comprehension of content types and relevance
Increase Search usage and downstream engagement
Build scalable UI patterns for Web, iOS, and Android, and strengthen cross-platform cohesion and metadata clarity
Hypotheses: If we improved how Search is found, understood, and explored, users would have greater confidence in the system—and consume more content that matched their intent.
Process
I firstly wrote a design brief outlining the problem space, data signals, constraints, risks, and milestones, which paired with my PM’s PRD as our alignment document. This allowed us to set clear expectations early and make principled tradeoffs later.
Throughout the project, I met with Engineering, Product, Data, Leadership, and Design Systems to pressure-test decisions, ensure technical viability, and define how Search needed to scale.
I partnered with UX Research to develop test plans, build prototypes, and run iterative evaluations across platforms. Insights from these sessions shaped everything from information architecture to metadata representation.
Search V1
We structured the work into V1 and V2 to accelerate delivery while exploring deeper changes in parallel.
V1 focused on structural clarity:
Introducing Search into the global nav
Improving results patterns
Elevating relevance cues
Increasing entry-point discoverability
I led the V1 designs across Web, iOS, and Android.
V1 launched in Q1 2023 and saw significant lifts in Search usage and engagement.
Search V2
Overview
V2 explored more substantial UX and IA improvements.
After leadership feedback, I developed multiple structural options for Search Results, refining flows and interaction models with the team. This work laid the foundation for a more scalable and expressive system.
Web
We consolidated results into a single “All” view with content-type tabs. Each content type received its own display pattern, designed for recognition and clarity.
A standout element was the “Best Match” tile—an immersive hero result for exact instructor matches. It surfaced confidence signals quickly and celebrated the rich photography within the MasterClass catalog.
Mobile (iOS / Android)
On mobile, we introduced a tabbed model for content-type differentiation.
Large immersive cells highlighted classes
Compact cells represented shorter content (e.g., lessons)
This allowed users to immediately sense the depth and relevance of each result.
Final Designs
Design delivery
For our final designs, I delivered full web, iOS and Android use case flows, high-fidelity prototypes across platforms, responsive variants, empty, error and edge case states and a comprehensive design spec detailing design states, patterns and meta-data behavior.
Impact
V1 launched to 100% of users and drove meaningful lifts in content discovery and Search engagement.
V2 shipped as an A/B test and was prepared for rollout in Spring 2023, introducing scalable patterns and informing an updated global navigation system.
Surfaces included:
Web, responsive Web, iOS, Android.
Results & Outcome
The Search redesign redefined how MasterClass’s catalog was explored and understood, improving clarity, confidence, and consumption across platforms. It established a more systemic foundation for navigation, informed updates to global components, and strengthened the core discovery experience for both consumer and enterprise users.
The redesign drove measurable improvements:
Higher Search entry rate due to global nav placement
Improved result comprehension, increasing confidence and clarity
More exploration of instructors and content types
Increased downstream consumption of classes and lessons
Cross-platform system coherence, reducing friction and fragmentation
New scalable patterns that informed future catalog and navigation work