Design Studio

In-house work · Lifetouch (Shutterfly)

Oh Snap! Saving School Pictures During Covid

When Covid shut down school picture day, rapid research and design kept a century-old photography business connected to families.

Organization
Lifetouch (Shutterfly)
Role
UX practice lead
Project type
Product innovationcrisis response
Business category
B2C
Two phones showing Picture Day Snaps @Home — the Lifetouch + Shutterfly landing screen and the Basic Package selection

Bringing school photography into a parent’s phone during COVID lockdowns brought unexpected revenue to Lifetouch at a time when there was none.

Leadership Lens

This work required fast, high-judgment decisions under pressure. My role was to align teams around what mattered most, protect trust, and use design as a lever for stability and growth during uncertainty.

Challenge

When COVID lockdowns canceled Picture Day, Lifetouch’s core business revenue disappeared overnight.

“How can we recreate Picture Day in a parent’s kitchen without eroding trust in our brand or displacing our field teams?”

Strategic Response

  • Co-Initiated: Partnered with VP of Product to ideate fast pivots to prevent revenue loss.
  • Reframed the problem: Designed a new way to capture school photo milestones at home & on mobile

Process Highlights

  • Prototyped Quickly: Built and presented a clickable vision in Sketch + InVision.
  • Gained Buy-In: Used prototypes to align leadership and field teams on potential.
  • Piloted Strategically: Launched a small-scale beta to test impact on quality and customer sentiment.

Challenges Tackled

  • Internal Pushback: Addressed fear of cannibalization by validating continued preference for pro photography.
  • Channel Conflict: Turned the tool into a sales enabler by positioning it as innovation-forward.
  • Team Alignment: Brought cross-functional teams into shared vision despite early resistance.

Impact

Measurable business and user impact across revenue, support, engagement, and long-term scalability.

Mitigated revenue loss
During lockdown, with a fast-to-market digital fallback
Reinforced brand trust
With a customer-first, milestone-preserving solution
Elevated UX's role
As a strategic, responsive partner during crisis
Proved test-and-learn
Stakeholders and schools praised the agility and innovation

The Results

Snaps @Home landing screens in the Shutterfly appSnaps @Home landing screens in the Shutterfly app

Lifetouch Inside the Shutterfly App

The quick prototype we were able to do convinced leadership to adjust the roadmap for the app to incorporate a feature we called Snaps @Home.

  • Main Landing page showed a quick 3-step process
  • Parents (or anyone) were able to choose from a few different packages, just like a regular program.

Key Insight: Parents loved the opportunity to become their child’s school photographer.

Package selection screens for Picture Day Snaps @HomePackage selection screens for Picture Day Snaps @Home

Background Replacement & Selection

New at the time, background replacement felt fresh and exciting and users would have an option to choose from the standard school (blue) background or a variety of others, just like they would with a normal school photo package. We wanted to keep it as much the same as possible to the standard experience.

Delight Moment: We were able to add some more designed and fun versions of Name & Grade not normally available in the regular experience, which delighted users.

Background replacement and Name & Grade optionsBackground replacement and Name & Grade options

Standard Cart Checkout

Packages would be able to be added to the regular cart in the app, allowing the user to create other projects and shop around before checking out.

I’m ready to drive similar transformational results for your organization with strategic cross-collaboration.