Building Product Design at Shanghai Disney Resort
Organization · Leadership · Culture
From “we're only visual designers” to product partners - how I grew a three-person visual design team into a multidisciplinary Product Design & Research organization.
When I joined Shanghai Disney Resort in 2021, the digital team was deep into the largest product initiative it had taken on: a major redesign of the resort app.
The team had already spent months gathering requirements and exploring concepts. Two designers were dedicated to the redesign, while a third supported ongoing maintenance work. Their backlog had grown to more than 30 items, and the team felt they had almost no capacity left.
What concerned me more than the workload was what sat underneath it.
The designers showed me hundreds of previous concepts that had never moved forward. They were frustrated with Engineering because implementation often differed from the designs. User research was frequently discussed, but there was no established research practice or dedicated researcher. And the designers themselves saw their role primarily as visual execution.
I had joined to lead Design, but I quickly realized that the challenge wasn't simply to improve the work.
We needed to change how Design worked.
And we had to do it while shipping.
APP Revamp
Six years ago, when Shanghai Disney Resort first opened, we borrowed the app design from the US. Since then, we've gone through several iterations; however, we knew we needed a redesign that would resonate with Chinese guests.
During our research, I came across a video of Bob Iger introducing Shanghai Disney Resort to the world - it was authentically Disney and distinctly Chinese. I realized that this should also apply to our digital experiences. While Chinese users are accustomed to high functionality and dense interfaces, Disney sees simplicity as a paramount goal. Our biggest design challenge was finding that sweet balance.
After additional research and several trials, we developed a new design language for Shanghai Disney Resort. Today, we are proud to present our guests with the new app!
