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In 2022, I joined Goodnotes as they aimed to shift 25 million users from a one-time purchase to a subscription model while launching a new app version. The initial in-app pop-up shop proved demand and generated significant revenue quickly, but my role was to turn this temporary setup into a sustainable marketplace for ongoing revenue.

Role: Lead Product Designer

Timeline: 12 months

Contents

01 The Context

When I joined Goodnotes in 2022, the company was attempting something few apps successfully navigate: transitioning 25 million monthly active users from a one-time purchase model to subscriptions while simultaneously launching a new version of their flagship app.

The existing pop-up shop had validated demand—generating a substantial revenue in just months. But it was exactly that: a pop-up. I was hired to transform this experiment into a scalable marketplace that could become a significant revenue stream for the company.

The complexity went deeper than just "adding commerce":

  1. Launching a new app version — Goodnotes 6
  2. Shifting to subscription model - From $7.99 one-time to $9.99 recurring subscription
  3. Establishing marketplace as significant revenue stream - Beyond the pop-up experiment
  4. Protecting established brand and maintaining ranking on the App Store
  5. Time constraint – We had only 4 months before engineering cut off

02 The Foundation

  1. Competitive Research. I audited dozens of competitor platforms including Notion's templates, Figma Community, and traditional marketplaces like Etsy and Gumroad to understand market patterns.
  1. Pop-up Shop Performance Analysis. Analyzed the existing pop-up shop to understand what was working, identify scaling bottlenecks, and extract learnings for the full marketplace design.
  1. Card Sorting. I also ran card sorting sessions to define intuitive IA and understand user mental models around digital content discovery and purchasing.

Insights

  1. High priceUsers browsed in-app but bought on Etsy due to lower prices. Since Apple's 30% commission makes price competition impossible, marketplace had to offer value Etsy cannot provide.
  1. Quick Scan Problems Analytics showed users viewed a few items then left. Pop-up layout buried key information, making price and product details hard to find at first glance.
  1. Student CategoriesCard sorting revealed educational materials (study guides, workbooks) should be clustered separately from lifestyle content. With significant percentage of user base being students, mixing them created cognitive load.
  1. Free Content AssumptionUser interviews showed expectation that stationery was part of the app purchase, not additional paid content
  1. Flexible Component SystemSuccessful marketplaces use multiple presentation formats: product carousels for browsing, hero banners for promotions, and category carousels for navigation

03 Design & Implementation

Phase 1. Story Mapping Workshop & Strategy

I facilitated a story mapping workshop with leadership to align on Marketplace goals, user flows, and feature priorities. Worked closely with PM and biz ops team to define their needs and entry points.

Strategic outcome

Marketplace was framed as supporting creators and subscribers rather than pure revenue generation to protect brand during transition

Phase 2. Modular Component Approach

Instead of building fixed marketplace pages, I designed a modular, block-based UI system that could be configured from CMS without engineering or design support. This approach enabled:

  • Business autonomy: Business ops were able to manage campaigns independently
  • Rapid experimentation: A/B tests without code changes
  • Cross-platform consistency: Same components adapted to different platforms
  • Clear sprint priorities: Gradient of outcomes instead of binary success/failure with each sprint delivering value

Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra

Macbook Pro 16’

Why?

Traditional approach would require completing entire pages before launch—a binary success/failure scenario. Component approach transformed this into a gradient of outcomes:

  • Worst case: Ship core components, basic marketplace
  • Expected case: Ship prioritized components, functional marketplace
  • Best case: Ship all components, full-featured marketplace

How we prioritized what to build first

Each component was scored on:

  • User value – Does this enable core user jobs?
  • Business impact – What is revenue potential and strategic importance?
  • Technical complexity – How much engineering effort required?
  • Dependencies – What else needs to exist first?

This created clear sprint priorities. Hero banners and product cards shipped first (high value, low complexity). Advanced filtering and purchase history product cards came later (nice-to-have, high complexity/low business impact).

Phase 3: The Subscription-Marketplace Connection

The most critical design decision was how to position marketplace relative to subscriptions. During user interviews, I kept hearing the same concern:

"I already paid for the app, and now you want me to buy stickers too?"

It was a warning about how users perceived our monetization strategy. Instead of fighting this perception, I worked with it. If users felt they'd already paid enough, we needed to give them value that justified their subscription while still creating a sustainable marketplace.

Free Monthly Content for Subscribers

Every subscriber would receive new content packs each month. By releasing fresh content monthly, we created a habit loop: subscribers would visit the marketplace regularly to claim their free items, discover new releases, and often purchase premium content they found while browsing.

 

The free content was the hook that drove marketplace engagement.

Discounts on Premium Content

Not everything was discounted—that would devalue the marketplace. Instead, we applied subscriber discounts selectively to mid-tier items, while keeping premium partnerships (like Disney) at full price.

 

This preserved revenue margins on high-value content while still making subscribers feel privileged on everyday purchases.

Exclusive Subscriber Collections

Certain designs would be subscriber-only, unavailable for purchase at any price. Subscribers weren't just getting a discount, they were getting access to content non-subscribers couldn't have.

 

This created scarcity and made the subscription feel special

To prove this model worked, I created the launch content myself:

  • Notebook cover templates designed specifically for Goodnotes' unique features (responsive layouts, not static PDFs)
  • 200+ hand-drawn stickers across 3 themed packs
  • All free for subscribers, establishing immediate value and setting quality standards

The impact was immediate and lasting:

  1. Proved that strategic value-giving drives both subscription loyalty and marketplace revenue
  2. Free content drove engagement without cannibalizing sales
  3. These sticker packs remain among the most downloaded items two years later
  4. Set quality standards for creators on the platform

04 When Playing Safe Backfired

Research indicated strong user sensitivity about monetization during our subscription transition. The data was clear: users felt they were "already paying enough." This led to a conservative marketplace integration:

The "Safe" Approach:

  • Dedicated marketplace tab in sidebar
  • Subtle icon in elements panel
  • Template suggestions during file creation

 

I advocated for mixing paid and free content within existing tools, but the research data seemed to support the safe approach. Without counter-evidence, I couldn't win that argument.

The Reality Check

When users explored the marketplace itself, they discovered free subscriber content and felt valued. But the entry points (template library, elements panel) still felt like advertising rather than creative enhancement. We'd solved half the problem.

Data Post-Launch

Users who found marketplace through contextual creation tools (stickers panel and tape tool during editing) showed much higher engagement than those entering via sidebar. They saw value of digital stationery in-app, but only after overcoming the initial "this is a store" perception.

Course Correction

Users who found marketplace through contextual creation tools (stickers panel while designing, tape tool during editing) showed much higher engagement than those entering via sidebar. They saw value of digital stationery in-app, but only after overcaming the initial "this is a store" perception.

Users who found marketplace through contextual creation tools (stickers panel while designing, tape tool during editing) showed much higher engagement than those entering via sidebar. They saw value of digital stationery in-app, but only after overcaming the initial "this is a store" perception.

We didn't revolutionize education or transform how children learn math. But instead we made it easier for descision-makers to do their jobs and justify investments in student success.

 

Sometimes the biggest impact comes from removing friction, the silent inefficiencies everyone accepts as "just how enterprise software works."

reflection

Back to the top

LinkedIn

© Anastasia Gritsai

All Rights Reserved

In 2022, I joined Goodnotes as they aimed to shift 25 million users from a one-time purchase to a subscription model while launching a new app version. The initial in-app pop-up shop proved demand and generated significant revenue quickly, but my role was to turn this temporary setup into a sustainable marketplace for ongoing revenue.

Role: Lead Product Designer

Team: 2 PMs, 3 biz-ops managers, 4 engineers, 1 QA engineer, 1 researcher

Timeline: 12 months

Contents

01 The Context

When I joined Goodnotes in 2022, the company was attempting something few apps successfully navigate: transitioning 25 million monthly active users from a one-time purchase model to subscriptions while simultaneously launching a new version of their flagship app.

The existing pop-up shop had validated demand—generating a substantial revenue in just months. But it was exactly that: a pop-up. I was hired to transform this experiment into a scalable marketplace that could become a significant revenue stream for the company.

The complexity went deeper than just "adding commerce":

  1. Launching a new app version — Goodnotes 6
  2. Shifting to subscription model - From $7.99 one-time to $9.99 recurring subscription
  3. Establishing marketplace as significant revenue stream - Beyond the pop-up experiment
  4. Protecting established brand and maintaining ranking on the App Store
  5. Time constraint – We had only 4 months before engineering cut off

02 The Foundation

  1. Competitive Research. I audited dozens of competitor platforms including Notion's templates, Figma Community, and traditional marketplaces like Etsy and Gumroad to understand market patterns.
  1. Pop-up Shop Performance Analysis. Analyzed the existing pop-up shop to understand what was working, identify scaling bottlenecks, and extract learnings for the full marketplace design.
  1. Card Sorting. I also ran card sorting sessions to define intuitive IA and understand user mental models around digital content discovery and purchasing.

Insights

  1. High priceUsers browsed in-app but bought on Etsy due to lower prices. Since Apple's 30% commission makes price competition impossible, marketplace had to offer value Etsy cannot provide.
  1. Quick Scan Problems Analytics showed users viewed a few items then left. Pop-up layout buried key information, making price and product details hard to find at first glance.
  1. Student CategoriesCard sorting revealed educational materials (study guides, workbooks) should be clustered separately from lifestyle content. With significant percentage of user base being students, mixing them created cognitive load.
  1. Free Content AssumptionUser interviews showed expectation that stationery was part of the app purchase, not additional paid content
  1. Flexible Component SystemSuccessful marketplaces use multiple presentation formats: product carousels for browsing, hero banners for promotions, and category carousels for navigation

03 Design & Implementation

Phase 1. Story Mapping Workshop & Strategy

I facilitated a story mapping workshop with leadership to align on Marketplace goals, user flows, and feature priorities. Worked closely with PM and biz ops team to define their needs and entry points.

Strategic outcome

Marketplace was framed as supporting creators and subscribers rather than pure revenue generation to protect brand during transition

Phase 2. Modular Component Approach

Instead of building fixed marketplace pages, I designed a modular, block-based UI system that could be configured from CMS without engineering or design support. This approach enabled:

  • Business autonomy: Business ops were able to manage campaigns independently
  • Rapid experimentation: A/B tests without code changes
  • Cross-platform consistency: Same components adapted to different platforms
  • Clear sprint priorities: Gradient of outcomes instead of binary success/failure with each sprint delivering value

Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra

Macbook Pro 16’

Why?

Traditional approach would require completing entire pages before launch—a binary success/failure scenario. Component approach transformed this into a gradient of outcomes:

  • Worst case: Ship core components, basic marketplace
  • Expected case: Ship prioritized components, functional marketplace
  • Best case: Ship all components, full-featured marketplace

How we prioritized what to build first

Each component was scored on:

  • User value – Does this enable core user jobs?
  • Business impact – What is revenue potential and strategic importance?
  • Technical complexity – How much engineering effort required?
  • Dependencies – What else needs to exist first?

This created clear sprint priorities. Hero banners and product cards shipped first (high value, low complexity). Advanced filtering and purchase history product cards came later (nice-to-have, high complexity/low business impact).

Phase 3: The Subscription-Marketplace Connection

The most critical design decision was how to position marketplace relative to subscriptions. During user interviews, I kept hearing the same concern:

"I already paid for the app, and now you want me to buy stickers too?"

It was a warning about how users perceived our monetization strategy. Instead of fighting this perception, I worked with it. If users felt they'd already paid enough, we needed to give them value that justified their subscription while still creating a sustainable marketplace.

Free Monthly Content for Subscribers

Every subscriber would receive new content packs each month. By releasing fresh content monthly, we created a habit loop: subscribers would visit the marketplace regularly to claim their free items, discover new releases, and often purchase premium content they found while browsing.

 

The free content was the hook that drove marketplace engagement.

Discounts on Premium Content

Not everything was discounted—that would devalue the marketplace. Instead, we applied subscriber discounts selectively to mid-tier items, while keeping premium partnerships (like Disney) at full price.

 

This preserved revenue margins on high-value content while still making subscribers feel privileged on everyday purchases.

Exclusive Subscriber Collections

Certain designs would be subscriber-only, unavailable for purchase at any price. Subscribers weren't just getting a discount, they were getting access to content non-subscribers couldn't have.

 

This created scarcity and made the subscription feel special

To prove this model worked, I created the launch content myself:

  • Notebook cover templates designed specifically for Goodnotes' unique features (responsive layouts, not static PDFs)
  • 200+ hand-drawn stickers across 3 themed packs
  • All free for subscribers, establishing immediate value and setting quality standards

The impact was immediate and lasting:

  1. Proved that strategic value-giving drives both subscription loyalty and marketplace revenue
  2. Free content drove engagement without cannibalizing sales
  3. These sticker packs remain among the most downloaded items two years later
  4. Set quality standards for creators on the platform

04 When Playing Safe Backfired

Research indicated strong user sensitivity about monetization during our subscription transition. The data was clear: users felt they were "already paying enough." This led to a conservative marketplace integration:

The "Safe" Approach:

  • Dedicated marketplace tab in sidebar
  • Subtle icon in elements panel
  • Template suggestions during file creation

 

I advocated for mixing paid and free content within existing tools, but the research data seemed to support the safe approach. Without counter-evidence, I couldn't win that argument.

The Reality Check

When users explored the marketplace itself, they discovered free subscriber content and felt valued. But the entry points (template library, elements panel) still felt like advertising rather than creative enhancement. We'd solved half the problem.

Data Post-Launch

Users who found marketplace through contextual creation tools (stickers panel and tape tool during editing) showed much higher engagement than those entering via sidebar. They saw value of digital stationery in-app, but only after overcoming the initial "this is a store" perception.

Course Correction

With this data, I pushed for deeper integration. Instead of separate entry points leading to subscriber benefits, why not surface that value immediately within tools? Mix free subscriber content with regular tools so the value is discovered naturally, not after clicking through to a "store."

While I can't share metrics or designs before public launch (NDA), early indicators show this native integration—where marketplace content appears seamlessly within creation workflows—will fundamentally improve both perception and performance.

We didn't revolutionize education or transform how children learn math. But instead we made it easier for descision-makers to do their jobs and justify investments in student success.

 

Sometimes the biggest impact comes from removing friction, the silent inefficiencies everyone accepts as "just how enterprise software works."

reflection

Back to the top

LinkedIn

© Anastasia Gritsai

All Rights Reserved

The Context

01

The Foundation

02

Design & Implementation

03

When Playing Safe Backfired

04

Reflection

05

My LinkedIn

In 2022, I joined Goodnotes as they aimed to shift 25 million users from a one-time purchase to a subscription model while launching a new app version. The initial in-app pop-up shop proved demand and generated significant revenue quickly, but my role was to turn this temporary setup into a sustainable marketplace for ongoing revenue.

Role: Lead Product Designer

Team: 2 PMs, 3 biz-ops managers, 4 engineers, 1 QA engineer, 1 researcher

Timeline: 12 months

Contents

01 The Context

When I joined Goodnotes in 2022, the company was attempting something few apps successfully navigate: transitioning 25 million monthly active users from a one-time purchase model to subscriptions while simultaneously launching a new version of their flagship app.

The existing pop-up shop had validated demand—generating a significant revenue in just months. But it was exactly that: a pop-up. I was hired to transform this experiment into a scalable marketplace that could become a substantial revenue stream for the company.

The complexity went deeper than just "adding commerce":

  1. Launching a new app version — Goodnotes 6
  2. Shifting to subscription model - From $7.99 one-time to $9.99 recurring subscription
  3. Establishing marketplace as significant revenue stream - Beyond the pop-up experiment
  4. Protecting established brand and maintaining ranking on the App Store
  5. Time constraint – We had only 4 months before engineering cut off

02 The Foundation

  1. Competitive Research. I audited dozens of competitor platforms including Notion's templates, Figma Community, and traditional marketplaces like Etsy and Gumroad to understand market patterns.
  1. Pop-up Shop Performance Analysis. I analyzed the data and with UX researcher we looked into existing pop-up shop to understand what was working, identify scaling bottlenecks, and extract learnings for the full marketplace design.
  1. Card Sorting. I also ran card sorting sessions to define intuitive IA and understand user mental models around digital content discovery and purchasing.

Insights

  1. High priceUsers browsed in-app but bought on Etsy due to lower prices. Since Apple's 30% commission makes price competition impossible, marketplace had to offer value Etsy cannot provide.
  1. Quick Scan Problems Analytics showed users viewed a few items then left. Pop-up layout buried key information, making price and product details hard to find at first glance.
  1. Student CategoriesCard sorting revealed educational materials (study guides, workbooks) should be clustered separately from lifestyle content. With significant percentage of user base being students, mixing them created cognitive load.
  1. Free Content AssumptionUser interviews showed expectation that stationery was part of the app purchase, not additional paid content
  1. Flexible Component SystemSuccessful marketplaces use multiple presentation formats: product carousels for browsing, hero banners for promotions, and category carousels for navigation

03 Design & Implementation

Phase 1. Story Mapping Workshop & Strategy

I facilitated a story mapping workshop with leadership to align on Marketplace goals, user flows, and feature priorities. Worked closely with PM and biz ops team to define their needs and entry points.

Strategic outcome

Marketplace was framed as supporting creators and subscribers rather than pure revenue generation to protect brand during transition

Phase 2. Modular Component Approach

Instead of building fixed marketplace pages, I designed a modular, block-based UI system that could be configured from CMS without engineering or design support. This approach enabled:

  • Business autonomy: Business ops were able to manage campaigns independently
  • Rapid experimentation: A/B tests without code changes
  • Cross-platform consistency: Same components adapted to different platforms
  • Clear sprint priorities: Gradient of outcomes instead of binary success/failure with each sprint delivering value

Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra

Macbook Pro 16’

iPhone 16

Why?

Traditional approach would require completing entire pages before launch—a binary success/failure scenario. Component approach transformed this into a gradient of outcomes:

  • Worst case: Ship core components, basic marketplace
  • Expected case: Ship prioritized components, functional marketplace
  • Best case: Ship all components, full-featured marketplace

How we prioritized what to build first

Each component was scored on:

  • User value – Does this enable core user jobs?
  • Business impact – What is revenue potential and strategic importance?
  • Technical complexity – How much engineering effort required?
  • Dependencies – What else needs to exist first?

This created clear sprint priorities. Hero banners and product cards shipped first (high value, low complexity). Advanced filtering and purchase history product cards came later (nice-to-have, high complexity/low business impact).

Phase 3: The Subscription-Marketplace Connection

The most critical design decision was how to position marketplace relative to subscriptions. During user interviews, I kept hearing the same concern:

"I already paid for the app, and now you want me to buy stickers too?"

It was a warning about how users perceived our monetization strategy. Instead of fighting this perception, I worked with it. If users felt they'd already paid enough, we needed to give them value that justified their subscription while still creating a sustainable marketplace.

Free Monthly Content for Subscribers

Every subscriber would receive new content packs each month. By releasing fresh content monthly, we created a habit loop: subscribers would visit the marketplace regularly to claim their free items, discover new releases, and often purchase premium content they found while browsing.

 

The free content was the hook that drove marketplace engagement.

Discounts on Premium Content

Not everything was discounted—that would devalue the marketplace. Instead, we applied subscriber discounts selectively to mid-tier items, while keeping premium partnerships (like Disney) at full price.

 

This preserved revenue margins on high-value content while still making subscribers feel privileged on everyday purchases.

Exclusive Subscriber Collections

Certain designs would be subscriber-only, unavailable for purchase at any price. Subscribers weren't just getting a discount, they were getting access to content non-subscribers couldn't have.

 

This created scarcity and made the subscription feel special

To prove this model worked, I created the launch content myself:

  • Notebook cover templates designed specifically for Goodnotes' unique features (responsive layouts, not static PDFs)
  • 200+ hand-drawn stickers across 3 themed packs
  • All free for subscribers, establishing immediate value and setting quality standards

The impact was immediate and lasting:

  1. Proved that strategic value-giving drives both subscription loyalty and marketplace revenue
  2. Free content drove engagement without cannibalizing sales
  3. These sticker packs remain among the most downloaded items two years later
  4. Set quality standards for creators on the platform

04 When Playing Safe Backfired

Research indicated strong user sensitivity about monetization during our subscription transition. The data was clear: users felt they were "already paying enough." This led to a conservative marketplace integration:

The "Safe" Approach:

  • Dedicated marketplace tab in sidebar
  • Subtle icon in elements panel
  • Template suggestions during file creation

 

I advocated for mixing paid and free content within existing tools, but the research data seemed to support the safe approach. Without counter-evidence, I couldn't win that argument.

The Reality Check

When users explored the marketplace itself, they discovered free subscriber content and felt valued. But the entry points (template library, elements panel) still felt like advertising rather than creative enhancement. We'd solved half the problem.

Data Post-Launch

Users who found marketplace through contextual creation tools (stickers panel and tape tool during editing) showed much higher engagement than those entering via sidebar. They saw value of digital stationery in-app, but only after overcoming the initial "this is a store" perception.

Course Correction

With this data, I pushed for deeper integration. Instead of separate entry points leading to subscriber benefits, why not surface that value immediately within tools? Mix free subscriber content with regular tools so the value is discovered naturally, not after clicking through to a "store."

While I can't share metrics or designs before public launch (NDA), early indicators show this native integration—where marketplace content appears seamlessly within creation workflows—will fundamentally improve both perception and performance.

Two years later, the Marketplace’s went cross-platform, had huge partnerships with Disney, BTS, Hello Kitty, generating millions in revenue. The stickers I drew are still top downloads. The component system is a standard.

 

But the biggest achievement? Realizing that sometimes the "safe" choice based on research is actually the riskiest path. Real safety comes from building flexibility to adapt when reality doesn't match research.

reflection