Castbox
Enhancing Community Engagement and Listener Interaction on Castbox.
Overview
A UX case study exploring why listeners face challenges interacting with the community section on Castbox. The project focused on redesigning the information architecture to improve clarity, streamline comment sharing, and encourage greater listener engagement through a more intuitive experience.
The Problem
Castbox listeners engage with podcasts but rarely with each other. Through desk research, surveys, and interviews, the community section surfaced as the primary friction point — features were unclear, the information architecture didn't reflect how people actually wanted to participate, and engagement had stalled.
The Process
How the work came together.
Step 01
Discovery & research
I started by listening — desk research on the podcast space, a survey to a wider audience, and qualitative interviews with active listeners.
- Reviewed competitive community patterns across podcast and audio apps.
- Ran a survey to surface the moments where engagement breaks down.
- Conducted user interviews to understand intent vs. behaviour.
Step 02
Defining the problem
Synthesised research into a clear problem statement and a small set of opportunities. Most pointed at the same thing: the community section was discoverable, but not legible.
Step 03
Ideation & sketching
Crazy 8s, brainstorming, and rapid sketching to explore directions before committing to a single one. I weighed each idea against feasibility and the existing IA.
Step 04
Prototyping & feedback
Brought the strongest direction into Figma as a high-fidelity prototype, validated with target users, and iterated on the parts they tripped over.
The Solution
A reorganised community section with clearer feature naming, a refined IA, and surface-level changes that invite listeners to participate without having to relearn the app. The redesign focuses on the moments that earn trust — first interaction, first reply, first follow.
Results · Impact
The numbers, after launch.
12
Users interviewed
80+
Survey responses
2
IA proposals tested
24
High-fidelity screens