Michael Kuhlmann

Stitching the Adtech Workflow Together

From Fragmented Silos to a Cohesive Platform Experience

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TL;DR Version

Problem: Each section of the platform—Proposals, IOs, Campaigns, Creatives, and Reporting—functioned as isolated silos. Users struggled to understand how their actions in one area connected to the next.

Solution: I redesigned the platform’s architecture to connect all critical workflows into a seamless flow, introducing persistent navigation, contextual wayfinding, and a unified design system.

Impact: Enabled faster time-to-value, reduced handoff confusion, improved adoption across teams, and drove a 7-figure ARR lift.

The Problem: Silos Everywhere

Frequence’s platform had grown into a sprawling set of modules, each built at different times by different teams:

    • AEs started in Proposals

    • Ops worked in IOs and Campaigns

    • Creatives handled requests in another tool

    • Reporting lived in its own world

But none of it felt connected.

Insights from Discovery

Through audits, stakeholder interviews, and user mapping exercises, I uncovered:

    • Siloed mental models—users thought in “tools” instead of “flows”

    • Redundant data entry—teams rekeyed info across modules

    • Zero wayfinding—navigation did not reflect the work journey

    • No big picture—users didn’t know what came next

My Role

I led the UX initiative to unify the experience. My responsibilities included:

    • Defining the cross-platform user journey architecture

    • Designing a persistent UI that flows across modules

    • Partnering with 5 PMs to reframe siloed feature maps

    • Driving adoption of a central design system

    • Ensuring accessibility across the full experience

Stitching the Workflow Together

I redefined the product from a modular toolset into a linear, connected journey:

    • Proposal → IO → Campaign → Creatives → Reporting

    • Each screen highlights what came before and what comes next

    • Navigation reflects user goals, not internal org charts

Execution Highlights

Introduced Persistent Contextual Navigation

    • Users can move laterally across workflow stages

    • Always see where they are in the journey

Added Breadcrumb Trails & Status Indicators

    • Made progress and dependencies visible

    • Created mental models that reinforced connectedness

Refactored UI into a Unified Design System

    • Standardized patterns for tables, forms, filters, modals

    • Reduced design and engineering overhead

Embedded Flow-Level Microcopy and UX Writing

    • Removed ambiguity with contextual guidance

    • Paired with PMs and UA writers for system-wide copy refresh

Key Results

    • 7-figure ARR impact via increased adoption

    • 30% reduction in task completion time

    • 100% WCAG 2.0 compliance across core workflows

    • Legacy systems marked for migration and sunsetting