Seven Big-Brand Apps, Live at a Platform Launch in Two Weeks
A major consumer-tech platform needed flagship retailer apps in its new store on day one, on brand-new technology with no room for a learning curve. We delivered seven big-name brand apps on a one-week-design, one-week-build cadence — all live at launch.
Result: 7+ flagship brands live at launch · 1 wk design sprint · 1 wk build sprint · Voice voice-to-shop built in
What they were up against.
The platform launch was already in motion. The store needed to ship with name-brand consumer apps in place, but the SDK was new, the UI conventions were unfamiliar to most agencies, and the production timeline left no room for a learning curve. Microsoft engaged Frogslayer to design and build the launch-day apps for a roster of major consumer brands — Best Buy, Expedia, American Airlines, Wrigley, US Bank, and Texas A&M — at a pace that effectively gave each app one week of design and one week of development before the launch event.
- A brand-new SDK with UI conventions unfamiliar to most agencies
- A launch timeline with no room for a learning curve
- Seven flagship retail brands, all needed live on day one
- One week of design and one week of build, per app
How we did it.
Parallel-build model
Small senior teams per brand, shared design conventions across apps, and a tight feedback loop with the platform team — so blockers got resolved in hours, not days.
Ship to the new platform's conventions
Each app shipped touch-first and tile-based, optimized for desktop and tablet, without compromising each retailer's brand identity.
What changed.
- Every app shipped on time.
- The platform launch went off with name-brand retail experiences in place — and Best Buy's app in particular became a reference example for what a launch-day consumer experience could look like on the new platform.
- The engagement led to subsequent rounds of work and continued partnership across the platform's first years.
The system.
Seven brand apps at launch velocity
A roster of flagship retailer apps — Best Buy, Expedia, American Airlines, Wrigley, US Bank, Texas A&M — delivered at launch and kept live as the platform scaled.
Best Buy retail experience
Browse and order across the full retail catalog, locate nearby stores, and review products.
Voice-to-Shop
Voice interaction to compare products, find stores, manage Reward Zone benefits, and check upgrade eligibility — a year ahead of mainstream voice retail UX.
Inside the build.
We had an impossible deadline with new technology. Frogslayer turned around the project in a week and made it look easy. Well done!
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