From physical control room to intuitive web studio

Voilà Studio started as a one-person project built in Swift by a single video engineer, for people who already knew what they were doing. The problem? The product had bigger ambitions than that and needed to offer a more universal, accessible experience. That's when it became necessary to turn the app into a web-based application.

Professional control rooms are powerful but they're built for experts, and experts only. The complexity behind live video production has always been a barrier for anyone without a technical background. That's exactly the problem Voilà Studio set out to solve.

The original app wasn't far off from that world. Built in Swift by a single developer, it was Mac-only, technically demanding, and nearly impossible to hand off. Powerful on paper, but inaccessible to the very people it was meant to serve.

A platform for better professionals meetings

Founded during the Covid-19 crisis, the start-up Voilà responded to the growing need for interactive digital events for companies like Orange and Publicis. Its all-in-one platform enabled the hosting and facilitation of online video events while maintaining audience engagement.

Auditing the existing app to separate what works from what doesn't

I began with an exploration phase, hands-on testing the original app to better understand its strengths and weaknesses from a user's perspective. This was followed by an audit of existing features to determine what was actually being used and prioritize improvements.

10 user interviews to uncover a wider range of use cases than expected

In parallel, we conducted discussions with around ten users organizing events on the platform, in order to better understand their real needs.

These conversations revealed a wide variety of use cases: team meetings, webinars, podcasts, and more complex productions involving professional control rooms. Some use cases were underutilized, while others had become central to the everyday experience.

2 distinct user groups, 2 completely different needs

Cross-referencing these insights, we identified two main user groups:

Internal operations teams: They handled productions for clients who preferred to delegate. Their key need was a clear and reliable interface, centralizing all information and reducing reliance on external tools (paper run-downs, internal chats, broadcasting interfaces).
Self-sufficient clients: They wanted to run their own events and needed a simple, intuitive, and educational tool to create and manage events without technical expertise.

3 core problems to solve, 1 modular foundation to build on

We pinpointed the most common issues: excessive complexity, lack of flexibility, and scattered tools forcing internal teams to juggle between platforms. Thanks to prior groundwork on modular panels, we had a solid base allowing users to tailor their workspace hiding or showing components based on their needs.

Replacing paper run sheets with 1 digital hub for live coordination

One of the most critical pain points was the complexity of managing live events across multiple tools. To simplify real-time coordination, we merged several features into a digital run-down, inspired by traditional paper versions used in video production.

This feature became the heart of the Studio, where users could smoothly plan and manage the flow of an event:

Pre-programmed sequences: every part of the event could be planned using content blocks (scenes, speakers, slides, videos, interactive activities, etc.)
Real-time coordination: quick updates were possible, drastically reducing back-and-forth between teams
Shared vision: everyone, from technical staff to presenters, shared the same overview, improving collaboration and reducing live-event stress

4 user tests that reshaped 3 key design decisions

We conducted user tests with four participants, each given a mock event to prepare, including chapters, jingles, activities, and various scene setups (1 speaker, 2 speakers facing each other, 3 speakers, etc.). Results were largely positive and led to meaningful iterations:

Expanded rundown area: During the preparation phase, users found it more comfortable to have a larger space for the rundown. This feedback led us to consider allowing panel resizing, in addition to enabling users to hide or show them.

Automatic speaker organization: We initially imagined that speakers appearing “on stage” would automatically shift to separate them from those not yet present. However, testers told us this would have increased their stress levels during a live event.
Speaker categories: To meet the need for clearer speaker separation, we instead chose to distinguish connected profiles from others, so that users would only see people they could actually use in the event.

Before

After

Before

After

Challenges & results

When building for every use case becomes a problem in itself

Initially, we wanted to create several interfaces by reusing the same building blocks, so users would enter the Studio based on their specific needs: meeting, webinar, live commerce, show, etc.

However, this precise approach quickly proved difficult to maintain and very costly in terms of both design and development. So we explored the opposite direction: a single shared interface that could support different types of experiences.

1 redesign, fewer errors, and teams that can finally fly solo

Thanks to this redesign, Voilà Studio has become more intuitive and efficient, streamlining the management of live events. The integration of the run sheet has made organization smoother, reduced errors, and improved real-time coordination, offering users more autonomy and better visibility of the event flow.