Google Modernize Workspace Video Player
Google Workspace Modernize the Video Player
BUSINESS GOAL
Workspace has a video primitive to power the video experiences across Google Workspace. The Editors is creating a new video editing tool (Vids), Meet is improving their asynchronous meeting experience, and Drive is updating the video player to better support all cross-product journeys. Drive is the product that allows people to watch videos in Workspace. These updates are all part of Workspace's effort to make video a more seamless and integrated part of Google Workspace.
FOUNDATIONAL RESEARCH & ANALYSIS
Research conducted a user satisfaction survey (n=1401) revealing that only
57% of users were satisfied with the existing video player experience, with 76% (n=640) expressing frustrations related to
playback quality
processing latency
missing features
feature discoverability
PROBLEMS TO SOLVE
Google Workspace utilizes the YouTube player API. This player looks like YouTube, but it’s missing several features in the actual YouTube player, such as preview scrubbing, highlights, chapters, etc. As a result, users get frustrated when they realize it's missing this functionality. Furthermore, YouTube wouldn’t commit to adding these features. Finally, the YouTube player doesn’t align with the Google Material 3 design standards and it appears dated.
PRIORITIZATION
I successfully advocated for prioritizing visual updates to differentiate the Workspace player from YouTube and modernizing the player's UI to align with Google Material 3 design standards. We secured buy-in from Workspace leads to ensure cross-product alignment and resource allocation.
GOAL
Make video a hero journey across Workspace by delivering a unified async video experience
Modernize the Workspace player to align with updated design standards
Ensure consistent video UX across Workspace (Vids, Drive, Meet, Chat, Gmail).
Enable faster development of video features
SUCCESS METRICS
Increase in satisfaction stays the same
Increase in the perception of modernity
No increase in latency
APPROACH
BUilding BLOCKS and Wireframes
I defined the initial components, building blocks, and interactions for the video player.
CROSS-WORKSPACE DESIGN JAM
I organized and co-facilitated visual design brainstorm session to drive alignment and foster collaboration across Drive, Vids, Workspace Design Systems, and Meet.
We synthesized the ideas from the brainstorming session and discover 3 themes
Color
Introducing and expressive color palette to highlight certain color.
Live color sampling from the video
SHAPE
Shape containment
Use islands to introduce hierarchy
Opacity & gradients on the controls
Opacity versus solid color that fully blocks content
The visual designer defined two directions
DIRECTION 1 - Contained timeline and controls
DIRECTION 2 - OPEN TIMELINE
DESIGN SPRINT
I organized and facilitated a design sprint to ensure the new design worked well with upcoming features impacting the video player.
Additionally, we gained a better understanding of cross-product journeys by mapping out the flows, patterns, and overlapping areas. We established a shared multi-year vision for the video player journeys, providing us with clear direction for future development.
During the sprint research, out team performed rapid rounds of design, validate, iterate, repeat
WHAT WE LEARNED
REfINE
Our team finalized visual design and motion design.
I finalized the accessibility spec.
LAUNCH AND ANALYSIS
We launched the Playback experience in Drive and Vids in November 2024!
Our post-launch metrics indicated
Satisfaction stays the same
Dissatisfaction went down 10%
Perception of modernity went up 20%
No increase in latency
WHAT PEOPLE SAID
TEAM
UX Lead - me
Visual Designers - Yong Kim, Zoë Knight
Motion Designers - Josh Greco
Designers - Dan Littlewood, Nina