In 2023, Dropbox introduced a redesigned web experience to better support modern workflows and bring simplicity back to file management. The web interface is one of the most important ways customers interact with Dropbox, but it hadn’t seen a major update since 2017.

Our hypothesis was that by updating the web experience, refreshing the visual design, improving navigation, and adding a persistent action bar for quicker access to common tasks, we could improve usability, help customers work more efficiently, and build stronger brand awareness while supporting future product growth.

This project kicked off by assembling a team of 10 contributing designers with backgrounds in Brand Design, Product Design, Design Systems, and Portfolio Design. Over a two-week sprint, we focused on refining four core screens: Home, Browse, Preview, and Share, while making light UX modifications. Each dot in the visualization below represents a designer and the approach they took within their visual explorations.

Our goal was to cast a wide net and explore multiple directions, with each designer taking ownership of one or two key areas. I was part of this initial group of contributors, as this sprint progressed and eventually concluded, I then took on a larger role in leading the visual design for the following sprints. Showcased below is a subset of work that came out of the divergent and convergent sprint.

Upon completion of the divergent sprint, I then led a small team of principal designers through a convergent sprint focused primarily on visual design and brand experience design.

Shown below are some observations that the convergent team collected as we began to identify some of the most common design tropes of many of our competitors in the space. Noting that the top five storage products use nearly identical trade dress – colors, iconography, layout, and even content.

As we began to converge and develop a select group of directions, we made sure to carry forward the strongest concepts from the divergent sprint while refining our approach based on earlier observations.

These observations clarified how we could differentiate and even stand out from competitors in the space. To ensure consistency in this next round of visual design explorations and refinements, we leaned in on our design principles:

↳ Make it all just work. ↳ Give it focus. ↳ Make it a pleasure to use. ↳ Get it beyond good.

An important part of this project was not only gathering feedback from leadership but also working closely with Jeremy Tinianow, a Staff Designer on our Design Systems team. He helped me evaluate the cost of our design decisions from a design systems perspective, with a clear understanding of the time and effort each change would require.

This gave me clarity on where to make concessions on design decisions we were indifferent about, balancing leadership feedback with implementation effort. Below you'll find screens that are nearly identical to what shipped, with only a few minor refinements based on additional rounds of feedback from our design leadership team.

This work covers a small portion of 6-8 months of ongoing work to redesign the Dropbox web experience. Showcased above is work from the visual design sprint that I ran and participated in, alongside two other principal designers.

The Dropbox Brand Studio team also partnered with Fuzzco and The Collected Works to help with a campaign to introduce the web redesign which you'll see in the video at the end of this project. I've included links to both Fuzzco and The Collected Works below so you can see more in-depth work from them.

Fuzzco – So Much More than Store ↗ The Collected Works – Dropbox Redesign Campaign ↗

Credits

Core Working Team Design Direction & Visual Design → Jon Howell ↳ Principal Designer → Brett Bergeron ↳ Principal Designer → Chris Meeks

Divergent Sprint Contributors ↳ Principal Designer → Carlos Montoya ↳ Staff Systems Designer → Jeremy Tinianow ↳ Senior Brand Designer → Michael Chiu ↳ Product Designer → Jen Pearce ↳ Product Designer → Aska Cheung

Campaign Video & 3D ↳ The Collected Works ↳ Fuzzco