Taboola Creative Library-
Turning Advertising Data Into Actionable Insights.
Overview
During my internship at Taboola, I worked as a Product Designer on the Product team, where I took part in creating a new Creative Library, a feature designed to help advertisers easily explore, understand, and optimize all their creatives in one place.
The challenge was clear- advertisers had no centralized space where they could view all the creatives they’d uploaded, understand which ones performed best, and make informed decisions quickly.
Our goal was to design a data-driven yet intuitive experience that turned complex performance data into clear, actionable insights.
Recognising the need for a tool that could alleviate the stress of business management, Manage Wise automates routine tasks and provides clear, actionable insights, aiming to simplify operations for small to medium-sized business owners.
The problem
Before designing, we needed to deeply understand how advertisers and account managers evaluate their creatives. We conducted interviews with users of other DSPs (Google DV360, The Trade Desk) and Taboola account managers.
Our goal was to uncover their daily workflows, decision-making patterns, and pain points when it comes to tracking performance.
From the interviews, we learned that advertisers mainly focus on performance and want to quickly spot their top creatives. They need clear sorting and filtering by key metrics like CTR and CVR, with context showing what each metric is compared to. Averages alone aren’t enough, they prefer data shown only after reaching a meaningful spend threshold. Above all, they value a clean, visual layout that’s easy to scan and interpret at a glance.
Project goal
The goal of the project is to create a centralized creative library that allows advertisers to easily view, compare, and understand the performance of all their creatives in one place. The feature aims to turn complex campaign data into clear, actionable insights, helping users identify top-performing ads, make informed optimization decisions, and save time managing
their campaigns.
As a product designer on the team, I focused on finding the most intuitive and effective way to present this information, balancing clarity, usability, and visual hierarchy. Working closely with the product manager, UX researcher, and developers, I helped shape a solution that not only met user needs but also aligned with the product vision and technical constraints.
Research and Inspiration
We benchmarked leading advertising and analytics platforms, both direct competitors and cross-industry examples to understand how others visualize data and surface insights.
Advertising Platforms
DV360 and The Trade Desk- clear performance sorting and filtering.
SimilarWeb- AI-based insights via chat assistant.
Google Analytics- automated summaries of key performance changes.
Analytical & AI-Insight Tools
Amplitude- “Inspect” to explore anomalies.
Tableau- “Explain Data” for contextual explanations.
HubSpot- light pop-ups showing trend changes.
Salesforce Einstein- actionable AI recommendations.
Wix and Tability- conversational AI assistants offering goal-based feedback.
Key Takeaways
Insights should appear in context, near relevant data points.
Use progressive disclosure, avoid overwhelming users upfront.
Always keep the user in control: accept, edit, or dismiss recommendations.
Be transparent, explain why a suggestion is shown.
Keep the tone supportive and human, not robotic or prescriptive.
This combination of market research and behavioral understanding became our foundation for the next design phase.
From Exploration to Implementation- Designing the Creative Library Experience
Concept Development
We explored two main directions for how the Creative Library might look and behave:
Ranking-based list view- a familiar format showing top performers in descending order.
Visual grid view- more image-focused, designed for faster scanning and visual interpretation.
After usability testing with advertisers and account managers, we found a clear preference for the second layout, which made it easier for users to visually connect creatives to their performance.
I interviewed five business owners who vary in age, location, and industry, but who all share similar management challenges. These interviews allowed me to gather valuable insights that are instrumental in shaping the platform to be highly responsive to the user's needs. This direct feedback is crucial for developing a platform that not only meets but anticipates and resolves the complexities of daily business management.
Iterative Testing
We conducted five rounds of usability testing with advertisers and Taboola account managers.
Each session followed a realistic scenario: participants were asked to choose the best creatives for a campaign focused on conversions (CVR) while thinking aloud.
What We Observed:
Users naturally gravitated toward the visual layout and “heatmap-style” display.
The drawer interaction (clicking an insight icon to open creative details) was intuitive and valued.
Users appreciated the ability to filter by segment- publisher, audience, language, or device.
Many account managers noted that this feature could replace the manual pivot tables they currently build for clients.
The Top 5 creatives dashboard section was praised for giving immediate visibility into what’s working.
Each round of feedback informed concrete design improvements, from layout adjustments to metric prioritization.
The Final Design
The final design of the Creative Library includes two complementary views that together give advertisers a full picture of their creative assets and performance.
The Library View provides a structured overview of all creatives, including review status, type and assignment, offering a clean, data-focused table for managing assets efficiently. From here, users can easily switch to the Performance View, where data comes to life.
Breaking Down the Flow
In the Performance View, advertisers can visually explore how each creative performs across campaigns. They can filter by type, format, device, or creation date, and instantly see key metrics like CPA, CTR, and CVR. The layout highlights top-performing creatives by spend through visually rich cards that make performance comparison intuitive and fast, while the detailed table below lists all creatives in the library with corresponding performance data, allowing users to seamlessly move between quick insights and deeper analysis within the same screen.
By hovering over a creative card in the Performance View, advertisers can click the “See analytics” button to open a detailed side panel. This view provides a deeper breakdown of that creative’s performance across multiple campaigns, combining a visual graph that compares metrics such as amount spent, CPA, CTR, and CVR with a detailed table below for precise data analysis. This design allows users to move effortlessly between high-level insights and granular campaign data, maintaining context and clarity throughout their workflow.
Conclusions
The Creative Library project strengthened my ability to turn complex data into clear, intuitive experiences that drive real user value. Collaborating closely with product managers, researchers, and developers taught me how to translate research insights into impactful design decisions, balance user needs with business goals, and design within real technical constraints. It also improved my confidence in presenting ideas, leading design discussions, and thinking more strategically about the product
as a whole.
Taboola Creative Library
Turning Advertising Data Into Actionable Insights.
Overview
During my internship at Taboola, I worked as a Product Designer on the Product team, where I took part in creating a new Creative Library, a feature designed to help advertisers easily explore, understand, and optimize all their creatives in one place.
The challenge was clear- advertisers had no centralized space where they could view all the creatives they’d uploaded, understand which ones performed best, and make informed decisions quickly.
Our goal was to design a data-driven yet intuitive experience that turned complex performance data into clear, actionable insights.
The problem
Before designing, we needed to deeply understand how advertisers and account managers evaluate their creatives. We conducted interviews with users of other DSPs (Google DV360, The Trade Desk) and Taboola account managers.
Our goal was to uncover their daily workflows, decision-making patterns, and pain points when it comes to tracking performance.
From the interviews, we learned that advertisers mainly focus on performance and want to quickly spot their top creatives. They need clear sorting and filtering by key metrics like CTR and CVR, with context showing what each metric is compared to. Averages alone aren’t enough, they prefer data shown only after reaching a meaningful spend threshold. Above all, they value a clean, visual layout that’s easy to scan and interpret at a glance.
Project goal
The goal of the project is to create a centralized creative library that allows advertisers to easily view, compare, and understand the performance of all their creatives in one place. The feature aims to turn complex campaign data into clear, actionable insights, helping users identify top-performing ads, make informed optimization decisions, and save time managing their campaigns.
As a product designer on the team, I focused on finding the most intuitive and effective way to present this information, balancing clarity, usability, and visual hierarchy. Working closely with the product manager, UX researcher, and developers, I helped shape a solution that not only met user needs but also aligned with the product vision and technical constraints.
Research and Inspiration
We benchmarked leading advertising and analytics platforms, both direct competitors and cross-industry examples to understand how others visualize data and surface insights.
Advertising Platforms
DV360 and The Trade Desk- clear performance sorting and filtering.
SimilarWeb- AI-based insights via chat assistant.
Google Analytics- automated summaries of key performance changes.
Analytical & AI-Insight Tools
Amplitude- “Inspect” to explore anomalies.
Tableau- “Explain Data” for contextual explanations.
HubSpot- light pop-ups showing trend changes.
Salesforce Einstein- actionable AI recommendations.
Wix and Tability- conversational AI assistants offering goal-based feedback.
Key Takeaways
Insights should appear in context, near relevant data points.
Use progressive disclosure, avoid overwhelming users upfront.
Always keep the user in control: accept, edit, or dismiss recommendations.
Be transparent, explain why a suggestion is shown.
Keep the tone supportive and human, not robotic or prescriptive.
This combination of market research and behavioral understanding became our foundation for the next design phase.
From Exploration to Implementation- Designing the Creative Library Experience
Concept Development
We explored two main directions for how the Creative Library might look and behave:
Ranking-based list view- a familiar format showing top performers in descending order.
Visual grid view- more image-focused, designed for faster scanning and visual interpretation.
After usability testing with advertisers and account managers, we found a clear preference for the second layout, which made it easier for users to visually connect creatives to their performance.
I interviewed five business owners who vary in age, location, and industry, but who all share similar management challenges. These interviews allowed me to gather valuable insights that are instrumental in shaping the platform to be highly responsive to the user's needs. This direct feedback is crucial for developing a platform that not only meets but anticipates and resolves the complexities of daily business management.
Iterative Testing
We conducted five rounds of usability testing with advertisers and Taboola account managers.
Each session followed a realistic scenario: participants were asked to choose the best creatives for a campaign focused on conversions (CVR) while thinking aloud.
What We Observed:
Users naturally gravitated toward the visual layout and “heatmap-style” display.
The drawer interaction (clicking an insight icon to open creative details) was intuitive and valued.
Users appreciated the ability to filter by segment- publisher, audience, language, or device.
Many account managers noted that this feature could replace the manual pivot tables they currently build for clients.
The Top 5 creatives dashboard section was praised for giving immediate visibility into what’s working.
Each round of feedback informed concrete design improvements, from layout adjustments to metric prioritization.
The Final Design
The final design of the Creative Library includes two complementary views that together give advertisers a full picture of their creative assets and performance.
The Library View provides a structured overview of all creatives, including review status, type and assignment, offering a clean, data-focused table for managing assets efficiently. From here, users can easily switch to the Performance View, where data comes to life.
Breaking Down the Flow
In the Performance View, advertisers can visually explore how each creative performs across campaigns. They can filter by type, format, device, or creation date, and instantly see key metrics like CPA, CTR, and CVR. The layout highlights top-performing creatives by spend through visually rich cards that make performance comparison intuitive and fast, while the detailed table below lists all creatives in the library with corresponding performance data, allowing users to seamlessly move between quick insights and deeper analysis within the same screen.
By hovering over a creative card in the Performance View, advertisers can click the “See analytics” button to open a detailed side panel. This view provides a deeper breakdown of that creative’s performance across multiple campaigns, combining a visual graph that compares metrics such as amount spent, CPA, CTR, and CVR with a detailed table below for precise data analysis. This design allows users to move effortlessly between high-level insights and granular campaign data, maintaining context and clarity throughout their workflow.
Conclusions
The Creative Library project strengthened my ability to turn complex data into clear, intuitive experiences that drive real user value. Collaborating closely with product managers, researchers, and developers taught me how to translate research insights into impactful design decisions, balance user needs with business goals, and design within real technical constraints. It also improved my confidence in presenting ideas, leading design discussions, and thinking more strategically about the product
as a whole.