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Josh Whitehead
‹ Work

Hush (backed by Kleiner Perkins)

Hush

First product designer at a social-commerce startup. Owned the app, brand, and site, and rebuilt the product as it scaled past a million users.

Role
Senior Product Designer → Head of Design
Years
2017 – 2019
Scope
Product, Brand, Web, 0→1
Status
Acquired
A 3D cartoon hand swiping up on a phone showing a Hush skincare post
3.5 → 4.8★
App Store rating, ~200 reviews → 50,000+
~30%
of revenue from the Android app I designed and shipped
1M+
users as the product scaled
Acquired
first designer in, left as Head of Design

  1. 01

    The situation

    Hush was a small, invite-only social-commerce app — beautiful, but underperforming. I came in as the first product designer to own the whole surface: app, brand, and site.

    A 3D hand balancing a spinning phone showing the Hush groups feed
    Groups — the feed, rebuilt.

  2. 02

    Rebuild the core

    I redesigned the core app around the feed, groups, search, and the AskHush community. The App Store rating went from about 3.5 stars across roughly 200 reviews to 4.8 across more than 50,000.

    A 3D hand holding a phone showing Hush beauty search results and rooms
    Search and rooms.

  3. 03

    Open a second platform

    I designed and shipped the first Android app, opening a new revenue stream that grew to roughly 30% of revenue.

    A 3D hand gripping a phone showing the AskHush community with a share sheet
    AskHush — the community, and sharing out.

  4. 04

    Own the whole surface

    Brand and the marketing site alongside the product, as the team scaled past a million users.

    A 3D hand holding a phone sideways showing the Hush chats list
    Chats.

  5. 05

    What happened

    I grew from first designer to Head of Design. The product scaled past 1M+ users. Hush was acquired.

Everything else from the work

Tools

Figma, Sketch

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