Innovation CMS Editor (Toolbox)
(01)
Overview
I led the vision and 0->1 product delivery of Toolbox, a fully integrated WYSIWYG page builder that unifies page creation, CMS, and platform governance. It has migrated ~70% of static frontend page types and reduced page-creation onboarding from ~12 hours to ~3 hours through a modular UI and in-context editing.
Year
2025
For
innosabi
Project overview
Toolbox is a What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get page builder embedded directly inside innosabi’s innovation management platform. It’s built for innovation managers, admins, and moderators who need to publish and maintain structured pages without breaking governance, permissions, or brand consistency.
The product merges page creation, CMS management, and platform-specific rules into one guided interface—so teams can build pages faster while still working within GDPR requirements and multi-level, customer-specific access rights.
Key requirements:
• Create a modern, intuitive interface for multiple user roles (admins, moderators, innovation managers).
• Enforce GDPR compliance and multi-level, customer-specific access rights across all components.
• Reduce onboarding time for page creation (from ~12 hours toward a 1-hour target).
• Establish a modular UI foundation that can scale across the platform.
Design elements:
• Widget-based modular interface to maximize reuse and flexibility.
• Consistent design system aligned with the core brand identity.
• Human-centered interaction patterns optimized for professional (power) users.
Execution highlights:
• Built on a third-party base and extended it with open-source components (CKEditor) and a Material Design foundation—then customized heavily to meet UX and platform requirements.
• Iterated on both architecture and UI, including a major pivot from a side-panel editing concept to a true in-context editing experience.
• Worked cross-functionally to align technology, design, and market strategy; validated the direction through stakeholder reviews, user testing, and live market feedback.
• Shipped progressively across the platform: Toolbox launched with Initiatives and has migrated ~70% of frontend-related pages (Static Pages, Homepages, Overview Pages, Community Pages, Initiatives, and Innovation Campaigns). Today it’s partially live with further rollout in progress.
What I learned:
• “WYSIWYG” has to feel literal: the initial side-panel edit mode didn’t meet the bar, so we redesigned toward in-context editing (V2).
• Open-source acceleration comes with constraints: faster delivery up front, more customization cost later.
• Targets must survive contact with reality: we didn’t reach the 12h→1h onboarding goal, but we reduced page-creation onboarding to ~3 hours.
• The best validation is behavior: during a customer event launch, participants started creating pages immediately while I was presenting—clear evidence the interaction model worked.
My role:
I was the primary lead for Toolbox—owning product vision, design direction, and delivery coordination end-to-end. I aligned stakeholders, partnered with cross-functional teams through key decisions (including a major interaction-model pivot), and presented Toolbox at customer launches and milestones. Toolbox has become a foundational capability in the platform’s content-creation ecosystem and continues to expand through staged rollout.