Improve First Impression

Cốc Cốc’s new tab page had been in use for years, shaped by many designers over eight of them. It looked dated, was inconsistent in the details, and lacked things other browsers already had: drag-and-drop shortcuts, light and dark mode, editable shortcuts. Ahead of a push for new users, we set out to improve their first impression from the moment they download the browser.

We ran a survey with 4,000 users and 50 interviews, and studied other browsers, then redesigned the three steps a new user goes through: the download website, the installer, and the new tab page, the main dish. The new tab page went through 200+ layouts with full interactive prototypes, was tested with users, and was released one feature at a time to a small share of users first.

Improve User's First Impression, Q4 2022 to Q1 2023. Goal: improve the first impression of new desktop users. Scope: user research, illustration, UI/UX design, UX writing, prototyping

The context: an outdated new tab page, and the three parts of the redesign: the download website, software installing, and the new tab page

Our process: empathize, define and ideate, prototype and test, with photos of interviews, a competitor feature table and sticky notes

01, the download website: the installer downloads in one click, and a thank-you page guides the install

02, the new installer: install, downloading, finish installing, all done

03, the new tab page redesign: the old design next to the new one, and the start of prototype and testing