2024

LightAd

Programmatic DSP platform for ad experts launching multichannel campaigns across mobile, desktop and CTV. Supports various ad formats from static interstitials to MRAID videos.

Product

DSP platform (desktop-only web app)

Domain

AdTech (programmatic advertising)

Client

LightAd

Role

Sole Product Designer

Activities

stakeholder interviews user flows information architecture form design MUI design system

Metrics

media types supported: 6 cross-SSP identifiers: 5

Challenge

LightAd needed a programmatic DSP where ad experts could launch multichannel campaigns (mobile, desktop, CTV) across six media formats and several SSPs almost instantly. Stakeholders wanted creatives pre-moderated so campaigns could launch on demand — which meant rethinking setup, media creation, and audiences around a "pre-approved assets" model.

Outcome

I designed the campaign-creation form around pre-approved creatives, using progressive disclosure for scheduling and budgeting. A unified media-creation process covered all six media types, plus a custom-audiences feature built on five cross-SSP identifiers with CSV upload. Built on MUI with light/dark modes, desktop-only.

Impact

LightAd shipped as a programmatic DSP supporting six media types, several SSPs, and custom audiences on five cross-SSP identifiers. The pre-approved-assets model lets experts launch multichannel campaigns almost instantly, while a unified media flow and progressive-disclosure forms kept a complex toolset usable.

Media assets creation feature

LightAd campaigns support six media types — not just plain images or videos, but also interactive ads made with HTML+JS. We needed a unified media creation process that could handle all the peculiarities of each media type while having a consistent look and feel. I started with mapping media formats to media types and found out that there are two ways media can get into the system: upload (including bulk) and manual creation. The first one works for images, videos and potentially HTML collections, the second one is purely for HTML/XML banners.

This observation allowed us to develop five consistent flows already. The sixth one, for dynamic native ads, happened to be very different from the others. Whereas other media types arrive as holistic, ready-to-use pieces, dynamic native ads are being made on the go out of separate bits of information provided. So in this case it's not a bad thing to step out of the pattern.