Box Notes
Box.com is a cloud content management platform that allows individuals and businesses to securely store, share, and collaborate on files from anywhere. It is widely used by enterprises to manage sensitive information, streamline workflows, and enhance team collaboration across devices.
As the founding designer at Box, I took over design responsibilities from the CEO and grew the design organization from the ground up. I scaled the team from 0 to ~25 people, spanning brand design, UX research, and product design. My work covered the entire product ecosystem, including web, mobile, platform, admin tools, and collaborative experiences like Box Notes. During my tenure, Box evolved from a product with hundreds of users to a platform serving millions globally.
Role | Timeline |
|---|---|
Lead Product Designer | 2 years |
Challenge
One of the core challenges was breaking away from the rigid folder structure traditionally used for file management. Instead, we introduced an organizational model based on tags and real-time collaboration updates, allowing users to more flexibly organize and retrieve notes. This required innovative approaches to interface design and performance optimization to ensure a smooth experience for both small and large teams.
Analysis & Research
I embedded research directly into the design process, ensuring a deep understanding of user needs and rapid iteration.
Regular User Testing
We conducted weekly user testing sessions with internal employees and external customers. This iterative approach allowed me to prototype and validate design changes before the development team committed engineering resources, enabling faster innovation and minimizing rework.
Design
Box was an enterprise product known for managing files and documents, but the company needed a collaborative tool to help teams work seamlessly on those documents. The challenge was to create a tool that supported real-time collaboration for hundreds of simultaneous users while remaining intuitive for personal use cases.
To achieve this, we:
Designed a lightweight, intuitive interface that prioritized content, reducing UI friction.
Moved beyond traditional folder structures by introducing tags and real-time collaboration updates to organize and surface notes efficiently.
Built scalable, performant architecture to handle real-time editing across large teams while maintaining a simple, responsive user experience.
Impact
User Engagement: Increased engagement with the Box product by 55% for users who interacted with Box Notes.
Product Stickiness: The collaborative nature of Box Notes encouraged users to return regularly, increasing retention and daily active usage.
Operational Efficiency: Prototyping before development reduced engineering effort and improved delivery speed, enabling faster iterations and a more user-centered product.
Key Takeaways
Prioritize Content: Design interfaces that get out of the user’s way—let the content shine.
Embedded Design: Integrating design closely with development through agile processes ensures better outcomes and stronger collaboration.
Iterate Quickly: Rapid prototyping and user testing reduce risk and accelerate learning, especially in complex collaborative environments.
