Box Admin Console
Box is a cloud-based content management and collaboration platform that allows businesses to securely store, share, and manage files. It serves enterprises across industries, providing advanced security, administrative controls, and seamless collaboration for teams of all sizes.
Founding Designer – Took over design responsibilities from the CEO.
Team Growth – Grew the design team from 0 to ~25 people, spanning brand design, UX, and user research.
Design Contributions – Personally designed experiences for web, mobile, platform, admin, and collaborative notes products.
Scale – Supported the company’s growth from hundreds of users to millions.
Role | Timeline |
|---|---|
Product Design Manager and Designer | 8 Years |
Problem
The complex onboarding experience for our cloud database was not optimized for self-serve developers, resulting in high drop-off rates and lost opportunities to convert users into paying customers. Simplifying this process was critical to improving user activation and driving product-led growth.
Analysis & Research
I embedded research directly into the design process, ensuring a deep understanding of user needs and rapid iteration:
Worked closely with customer support and enterprise admins to understand pain points around monitoring, security settings, and workflows. This research informed the development of intuitive tools while emphasizing best practices to prevent poor user experiences.
Design
The team and I developed a comprehensive suite of admin tools to give enterprise administrators visibility and control over how their organizations used Box. These tools allowed admins to monitor user activity, configure security settings, and manage workflows.
Challenges included:
Balancing power with simplicity—ensuring complex monitoring and configuration tools were accessible without overwhelming users.
Educating admins on best practices to avoid configurations that could degrade the user experience.
Designing dashboards and workflows to surface critical data while enabling quick responses to security and compliance needs.
Impact
Admin Setup Speed: Enabled admins to fully configure and onboard their organizations within a day, while competitor products took weeks. This accelerated customer adoption and improved time-to-value.
Future Improvements
Enhanced "Load Data" GUI to simplify data ingestion.
Integrations GUI to help users connect external tools.
Persistent upgrade options to increase conversion.
More refined sales messaging in chat & Intercom.
Key Take Aways
Embedded Design: Integrating design closely with development through agile processes ensures better outcomes and stronger collaboration.
Partner with Customer Success: Collaborate closely with customer success teams to gather real-world insights and improve admin experiences.
