ROLE

ACD/Writer

AGENCY

Small Army

VIBES

Brainy Fun

CAPABILITES

UX Language

Rebranding

Deep Diving

TEAM

AD: Papee Thirawat

ACD/Writer: Jess Tardy

ECD: Sam Pitin

TEDx Beacon Street had tons of great content but people couldn’t find what would actually resonate with them. The traditional “browse by category” approach didn’t match how users actually thought about TED content—they came looking for specific feelings or insights, not topic buckets.

As part of the Small Army team (with Art Director Papee Thirawat and Exec Creative Director Sam Pitino), we discovered that users approached TED content with emotional needs, like; “I want to be inspired," "Help me understand something," "Make me laugh.”

The challenge was redesigning discovery around these real mental models instead of institutional categories like “Technology” or “Business.” Our insight was simple: content discovery should feel like asking a friend who just gets what you need right now.

Instead of scrolling through generic sections, users wanted to say “Fill me with wonder” or “Make me teary-eyed” and actually find it.We redesigned the entire experience around emotional search queries, creating interface language like “Inspire Me," "Flip my whole paradigm," and "Surprise me” that matched how people actually think about their content needs. This turned passive browsing into active discovery, boosting time on site by 20% and completely changing how users engaged with TEDx’s content library.