This project clarified the value of additional link settings to our existing professional users. The team involved two web engineers, a writer, a researcher, a product analyst, and a product manager. We worked hand in hand to uncover the opportunity, user problems, high level flow, visual design, and copy of this feature.
Overview
Dropbox had recently introduced a new link model and part of that meant designing a new link settings page to accommodate things such as password protection, expiration dates, and audience permissions. Specifically, two main changes from this link model included:
The ability to scale to more than one link
example: There are two different links(view access and edit access) with their own unique settings that we needed to combine into a single view
Universally updating changes to settings to all users
example: Previously, each individual would create their own unique link that would become obsolete if the users account was lost)
Auditing the current experience
Before moving forward with revamping this settings page, I worked with research to complete an audit of the current implementation to discover what was and wasn’t working.
In interviewing a total of 8 Dropbox users in-person over the course of half a day, we discovered the following insights about the current implementation:
Overly chaotic interface led to decision paralysis and passing over functionality users were otherwise looking for
Most functionality was already understood without the subtext
Switch components combined with conflicting text led to confusion.
Feedback was unclear. After a user changed a setting, they wanted to be certain of the change and the current solution did not offer feedback indicating saved changes.
Interpretation of what they expected these features to do did not align with what they actually did
Design explorations
With this, I began exploring a few directions focused on the following goals:
Clarifying that there was now two links available rather than just one
Stating a new, universal behavior of changes to these link settings
Showing the user that there was more than one link setting
With the first goal, a few of the directions I landed on followed:
A: two separate tabs
B: two separate cards
C: two separate cards - list
D: Full copy
A: Separate tabs
B: Two cards
C: Two cards - list
D: Full Copy
Pros
Offers substantial information to user
Users are already familiar with the current model
Good use of real estate(clearly shows two different links)
Clearly separates out audience and extra functionality(password, expiry…etc.)
Good use of real estate(clearly shows two different links)
Clearly depicts what the user is given
Good use of real estate(clearly shows two different links)
Align with what user currently sees in the main share screen
Cons
Hard to identify beyond the first link
Ability to change settings are hidden under the dropbox
Ability to change settings are hidden under the dropbox
Possible concerns with the understandability of grid view and dropdown combination
Potentially unscalable to desktop experience
Separation of two links gets lost with icons and alignment
Second link gets a little lost amidst an entire list of things
Settings aren’t at the forefront
Possibly out of scope do to use of dynamic text
With these, I again brought them into testing with 8 new Dropbox users and worked with research to uncover what was working with these current iterations and what wasn’t. We uncovered that:
The compactness was nice, however, even showing half of the second card was enough to differentiate two different links
Subtext was not necessary and functionality still made sense
Icons were useful in understanding what each setting did, but made scanning the page difficult
Overview
Auditing the current experience
Design explorations
Showing the user that there was more than one link setting