Background

In 2014 Google announced Material Design, a unified design system for digital experiences. Top-tier Google products were required to adapt to the new system shortly after the announcement, which required a complete rethinking of layout, interactions, and implementation.

My Role

• Senior Product Designer
• Prototyper

Platforms & Screen Sizes

• Web
• iPhone and iPad
• Android mobile and tablets

Goals

• Redesign Google Drive UX to adhere to Material Design principles and visual language
• Make file/folder organization faster and easier.
• Remove design and experience inconsistencies between iOS and Android platforms
• Work with all other Google products to ensure patterns and design decisions are consistent

User Testing

Several rounds of testing was conducted with interactive prototypes. Users were given organizational tasks to complete with the prototypes. Success was measured empirically by observing how much time it took users to complete tasks, and anecdotally by asking users to compare the experience to the current Drive UI.

A later-stage prototype.

The overall experience proved to be a significant improvement over the current UI. Through testing we learned the importance of visual feedback in the organizational experience and subsequently spent a significant amount of time on optimizing animations.