QuillBot for Chrome
QuillBot for Chrome is one of Google’s Favorite extension
In December 2023, Google named QuillBot one of their favorite Chrome extensions of the year, applauding its AI‑powered writing features. As the lead designer on the Chrome extension team, I owned both product direction and design team growth—balancing UX vision with real-world impact.
The Challenge
QuillBot Extension had accumulated design and product debt since launch.
Seamless integration:
Extension needed to feel native in Chrome’s toolbar and interfaces like Gmail, Docs, LinkedIn, Slack, and more without feeling like a pop-up app.
Feature discoverability:
Users had access to both Grammar Checker and Paraphraser—but defaulting to simplicity risked burying power features.
Scaling design across teams:
Multiple designers needed to use shared components correctly, consistently, and confidently on extension as well as upcoming apps.
The Challenge
QuillBot Extension had accumulated design and product debt since launch.
Seamless integration:
Extension needed to feel native in Chrome’s toolbar and interfaces like Gmail, Docs, LinkedIn, Slack, and more without feeling like a pop-up app.
Feature discoverability:
Users had access to both Grammar Checker and Paraphraser—but defaulting to simplicity risked burying power features.
Scaling design across teams:
Multiple designers needed to use shared components correctly, consistently, and confidently on extension as well as upcoming apps.
My approach & design leadership
From May 22 to Dec 23, since taking charge of the design team, I started improving the design team usability methods and visual design standards.
UX-Driven Discovery:
Used diary studies and site-specific interviews to explore friction in Gmail, Notion, Slack etc. Extensive dogfooding took place with QuillBot employees.
Minimized decision fatigue by defaulting to core features and hiding advanced options behind expandable menus. (Hick's Law).
We positioned inline suggestions within immediate reach, speeding up correction actions. (Fitts’s Law)
Focus on intuitive interfaces.
Integrated Chrome-like UI patterns, e.g. side-drawer pop-up mimicking native feel. (Jakob's Law)
Showed only standard paraphrasing initially; unlocked modes like Formal, Concise when interaction began. (Progressive Disclosure)
Limited suggestion bubbles to 5–7 items, reducing cognitive burden. (Miller's Law)
Team Culture & Team Culture:
Fostered a collaborative design culture with brainstorming and peer reviews.
Hosted weekly critiques centered on cognitive-load-aware microcopy, fostering critical thinking and articulation.
Team followed a common auto-layout-based visual design style Implemented an Atomic Design‑based component library, slashing version mismatches by ~30%.
Design led initiatives
Multiple design led initiatives were prioritised focusing on user needs and improving usability
Improving uninstallation survey
Improving uninstallation survey
Improving uninstallation survey
Improving uninstallation survey
Improving uninstallation survey
Improving uninstallation survey
Improving uninstallation survey
Improving uninstallation survey
Improving uninstallation survey
Impact, leading to Google Recognition
We morphed QuillBot’s Chrome extension from solid functionality to Google-recognized, user-loved, design-forward greatness—through a strategic mix of UX expertise, research-driven decisions, scalable systems, and team leadership.
Users improved 15x from 100k in Feb 2022 to 1.5 million in Dec 2023
User ratings improved from 3.9 to 4.4 on Chrome store
Uninstallations reduces by 35%
Scalable designs paved way for Product A/B testing frameworks
80% feature parity was achieved with webapp for Paraphraser and grammar checker.
What happened till 2025?
As of June 2025, we are at 5 million user installs with 4.6 rating on chrome
We have launched new AI Assistant that and improved widget
Tested new features like AI generation, Tones and toolbox.
Launched extensions for Safari and edge based on chrome extension
We also expanded our product line to desktop and mobile apps with the total ecosystem having 20+million users
My learnings
I shifted from individual designer to design leader, crafting environment where others grow.
Realized that guiding through principles rather than micromanaging helps unleash team creativity.
We have launched new AI Assistant that and improved widgetFocus on strategic decision making and tactical design tradeoffs helped us to design at speed, without sacrificing quality
The app's success was due in part to its user-centric design process. The team conducted extensive research and user testing to ensure that the app met users' needs and preferences, resulting in a highly effective and user-friendly platform.