The problem
When I joined Google I had the pleasure of having my first team be with Play Books. The product had a long history, but it was lagging behind all competitors despite having the power of Google’s reach behind it. Why? The design forced the user to think way too hard and it was hard to find anything to enjoy. Reading is supposed to be relaxing, not work.
The objective
My mission: design the product users actually want. I developed a creative vision and design strategy to shorten the path to reading, ease discovery, and deliver a personalized experience. I partnered with product leadership and engineering to champion significant overhauls in both functionality and user-experience approach.
The result
We transformed the app into one that feels effortless, intuitive and best-in-class. Every interaction was re-imagined: home screen flows became “shallow experiences” so users could find what they needed right away; we integrated intelligent personalization, curated content, and recommendations; and we analysed reading-patterns by time of day and week to deliver the right book at the right moment. The result: a refined, user-first experience. On scale: the app has surpassed 1 billion+ installs on Android. The content catalog claims over 5 million titles in 75 countries.
