BOLT.new — display ad program
Lead Product Designer scaling Bolt.new's display ad program, using AI to cover exploration volume and slot-based components to ship 80+ testable ad variations at roughly 50% more output.
overview
Bolt.new needed to stand up and scale a display ad program fast. Rather than designing each concept by hand, I built a system for generating them. I used Claude Design to produce a high volume of layout explorations, which let me put a real range of directions in front of the Product Design Lead early and get a fast read before investing in execution. Once we had a winner, I rebuilt it in Figma Make to match the creative direction precisely. AI covered exploration volume. I made the creative calls.
Role: Lead Product Designer (contract). I own the creative strategy, direction, and tone of voice across audience segments, along with the component system and the design execution
Partners: Head of Design and the Product Design Lead.
Audience: Bolt.new's core segments: SaaS teams, small businesses, and entrepreneurs. Each segment gets its own creative direction, built off the evergreen brand foundation rather than diverging from it.
the work
product launch
Promoting new features including templates and voice dictation.
special promo
Creative tests using lifestyle placements to drive awareness of active promotions.
trust builders
Evergreen ads built around feature stats and customer testimonials.
audience
Segment test assigning a slightly different creative direction to SaaS, small business, and entrepreneur audiences off the evergreen base.
brand awareness
Five copy directions against three creative directions on the benefits of building with Bolt.new.
user persona
The slot system in full effect. Plug-and-play templates that swap in real app, web, and tool mockups so people see actual examples of what Bolt.new builds. Four ad sizes, light and dark mode, nearly 80 mockups.
real estate
Vertical-specific targeting using Bolt's evergreen style.
feature highlights
Spotlighting a single feature and tying it to why someone would want to build with Bolt. A re-engagement play for users on the fence about publishing.
savings stories
Real examples of people, small businesses, and SaaS companies saving thousands by building their own solutions. Also aimed at re-engagement.
outcomes
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outcomes *
move fast • build well
Roughly 50% more output than a hand-built approach, and a program we scaled significantly faster as a result.
Over 80 testable ad variations from a component system that keeps producing without me rebuilding from scratch.