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Lead Designer
Jan 2024
Summary
I drove the design from discovery to delivery as QuillBot Extension platform's Lead Designer, working with two designers and cross-functional stakeholders.
6 months post go-live
The rating for Web Chrome went from 4.4 to 4.6 out of 5.
The number of active installations has increased by 25% to 5 million.
1. The Challenge
The widget serves as the main interface through which the user interacts with the extension. Users use it to see tones, update extension settings, fix all errors, and paraphrase.
There were a number of problems with the widget. Problems identified include intrusion, obstruction, inconsistent behavior, and scalability.
We wanted users who had the extension installed to have a smooth and unobtrusive toolbar experience.
Our goal was to enable the identification of important writing processes, such as paraphrasing and grammar checking.
Fix scalability problems and make sure new features are discovered as we improve our writing suite.
Gain the user's trust by presenting them with clear states, such as no error scenario, premium recommendations available scenario, etc.
2. User Research
Over a period of one month, 18% of users click on the fix-all, 7% click on the pphr-all, and 2.8% use the widget to access the settings.
We chose to concentrate more on Gmail and Gdocs in the initial phase, in accordance with the Extension benchmarking uxr in 2024.
3. Competitive Analysis
We studied the designs of grammarly, language tool, wordtune and ChatGPT based tools to understandt their interaction mode and expectations from users
4. User Journey Maps
We mapped the entire user journey from Discovery to support to understand user touchpoints and issues
We also focussed on multiple website like gmail, gdocs etc
5. The Problem Statement
Minimalist, unobtrusive, and scalable widget interface supported by writing assistant
Our goal is to give a seamless and unobtrusive toolbar experience to users who have the extension installed and Allow discovery of key writing actions, i.e paraphrase, grammar checking
Solve for scalability issues and ensure discovery of new capabilities as we enhance our writing suite
Build trust with the user by showing clear states to the user i.e no error scenario, premium recommendations available scenario etc
Check Metrics
Keep overall uninstall rate to below 3.5%
Keep disable & pauses to current levels
6. Hypothesis and Ideation
Representatives from Design, Product, Leadership, QA took part in the ideation efforts to express their opinion on the issues and how to solve them
7. Wireframes
We explored multiple interaction options, considering the limited canvas space
8. Go Live!
Final designs consisted of 2 main components - Widget and Assistant, with multiple variations used across the Gmail and Gdocs canvas. We covered 20+ flows, from empty states to overflows
9. Impact
Tracking success, iterating fast
Widget Expansion Rate: ↑ from baseline X% to Y% post-launch—tracked via telemetry.
Feature usage: Tone & Grammar tools saw a Z% uptick once accessible via sidebar.
Survey feedback: >85% users preferred sidebar for longer writing tasks.
Built “Focus Mode” MVP: sidebar auto‑minimizes after 3 minutes inactive—deployed in sprint 3.
Learnings
Breaking rigidity by embracing product context and balancing long-term vision with short-term wins (e.g., widget refresh).
Increased proficiency in design decisions and complex trade-offs. Facilitated collaborative decision-making through HMWs, Crazy8s, and regular brainstorming sessions
The team learned how to manage conflicts, disagree, and commit. Effective use of prototype testing and dogfooding among QuillBot employees.
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