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Surfshark
Mobile growth · ASO experimentation · Product communication
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Open ChatGPTFrom November 2023 to January 2026, I worked as a Graphic Designer for Mobile & Paid Media within Surfshark’s marketing design team. I was the primary designer for ASO, partnering directly with the channel owner to turn acquisition priorities, research inputs and previous learnings into creative hypotheses and testable app-store directions.
My responsibility covered message hierarchy, visual direction, screenshot sequencing and final execution, while the channel owner led the wider testing strategy and performance interpretation. The work sat at the intersection of mobile acquisition, product communication and growth experimentation.
Surfshark’s app-store listing had to communicate value and build trust within seconds. But the product extended beyond a single VPN promise, so each screenshot sequence had to explain a broader privacy proposition without becoming a feature catalogue.
The same work also had to produce useful learning. Small variations were easier to compare but limited what we could learn; broader contrasts could reveal stronger communication territories, but made causality harder to isolate.
The design problem was balancing user clarity with experimental clarity.
I worked with three design principles.
Each direction needed one immediate takeaway: what the product does, why it matters, and why it feels trustworthy. That shaped screenshot order, headline hierarchy, UI prominence, and whether the story led with product evidence or user benefit.
I designed each gallery as a connected narrative rather than a set of standalone posters: capture attention, build understanding, then reinforce usefulness and trust. Copy, UI and visual hierarchy had to work across the full sequence.
Broader tests explored distinct communication territories; tighter iterations focused on variables like message angle, screenshot order, product prominence or trust framing. The goal was meaningful variation without losing brand coherence or measurement clarity.
Each cycle started with a business or behavioural question, not a visual-style brief. Together with the ASO stakeholder, I translated acquisition priorities, research and previous learnings into a hypothesis, then shaped the message hierarchy, visual direction and full screenshot sequence for testing.
The comparison below reconstructs a broader direction test from my Surfshark work.
PORTFOLIO RECONSTRUCTION
Recreated communication directions — not original Surfshark campaign assets.
Direct functional claims, consistent structure and prominent product evidence.
Outcome-oriented messaging, human situations and selective product evidence.
The comparison shown here was recreated from scratch for this portfolio. Product copy, UI, imagery and test details have been changed; exact test configuration, attribution, keyword strategy and internal analysis are omitted. No original Surfshark working files or unpublished assets are shown.
This was a broad direction test, comparing two communication systems rather than one isolated variable.
Direction A prioritised functional clarity and product evidence; Direction B prioritised user context and outcomes. The comparison could reveal a stronger communication territory, but not whether the effect came from copy, imagery, sequence, product prominence, or their combination.
Over time, I moved closer to hypothesis formation rather than joining at execution. I began participating in user interviews, working more directly with acquisition stakeholders, and helping shape how product value and device UI were represented across tests.
The goal was simple: make design useful before the brief was fixed.
One ASO experiment using assets I designed was recognised internally as a meaningful growth result. My contribution covered the creative side of the test: message hierarchy, visual direction, screenshot sequencing, benefit framing and production-ready execution.
Exact performance figures, attribution and test configuration remain confidential.
The hardest question wasn’t what a winning visual should look like, but what each test could genuinely teach us.
Broad contrasts helped uncover promising communication territories; narrower iterations helped isolate specific variables. The central tension was between creative range and measurement clarity.
I came to treat the app-store listing as both a product narrative and an experimental surface: every screenshot had to help the user decide while giving the team a clearer basis for the next iteration.
