ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN is one of the leading privacy and security brands within Kape Technologies. Launched in 2009 and serving over 3 million active customers as one of the biggest VPN providers, ExpressVPN enables many to access the internet securely and privately through a suite of VPN apps and a password management service.

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Design at ExpressVPN

Joining ExpressVPN in 2019 as part of the Web Design team and later transitioning to the Product Design team in 2020, I collaborated closely with product and marketing managers, content strategists, developers, and more within autonomous, cross-functional teams akin to Spotify’s working model.

The design chapter expanded from a team of nine in 2019 to over thirty designers globally by 2023, with specialised teams across Web, Product, UX & CRO, Research, Video & Animation. Within the chapter I made contributions to:

• Conducting interview loops for roles ranging from junior to lead levels, resulting in the successful hiring of several designers for Product, Web, and Research teams
• Elevating the skills of fellow designers through lightning talks and presentations focused on design and creativity
• Driving initiatives to identify and address design debt across our apps

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ExpressVPN Keys

Role: UX Design, UI Design, Prototyping, User Interviews and Testing, Illustration

Since early 2021, I've played a pivotal role in the team delivering ExpressVPN Keys, a password management service available across Android, iOS, and as a Chrome browser extension. As one of two product designers integrated into the team, I drove the design process from discovery to delivery alongside a product manager, a marketing manager, a content strategist, a UX researcher, and multiple developers across each platform.

In a password manager market teeming with seasoned veterans and newcomers, our vision for Keys was to encompass all the core features of premium password managers while offering it as an extension to the VPN subscription at no additional cost. This strategic approach not only expands ExpressVPN's value proposition to customers but also challenges us to present a formidable contender in the market, capable of attracting new users and enticing existing ones to make the switch.

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ExpressVPN Keys - Password Health

Among the key features I contributed to for Keys was Password Health, a functionality that identifies weak, exposed, or potentially risky passwords and offers suggestions for improvement. This feature emerged as the most requested addition from users post our beta release and was a standard offering among premium password management competitors.

Password Health was designed with a focus on educating users about their security risks and to encourage proactive responses to improving their security level. Through multiple iterations and user testing, we found that users were more motivated to take action when presented with a risk-based grading system, urging them to enhance their security score. Testing various ways of presenting security suggestions also yielded valuable insights.

Upon release, the feature proved highly beneficial to existing users, resulting in a substantial improvement in key metrics related to user engagement. Positive feedback commended the feature for empowering users and motivating them to address logins with security risks.

For a more comprehensive understanding of this project, a detailed case study can be presented upon request.

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ExpressVPN Keys - Eliminating 'Death by a thousand cuts'

While the initial results of the soft launch were promising and met target business metrics, the team quickly identified a retention challenge after seven days and a relatively low rate of weekly active users. Recognising this issue, we promptly assembled a team of two product designers and one user researcher to start an investigation.

Analysing customer support tickets, data dashboards, user interviews, and other feedback sources, we pinpointed numerous small pain points across the entire Keys experience causing frustration among new users. This 'death by a thousand cuts' scenario affected various aspects of the product, from difficulty unlocking the vault to concerns about data import and other minor issues.

To address these challenges, we set a primary goal of increasing weekly active users and formulated multiple hypotheses identifying the barriers to achieving this goal. We then iterated on solution hypotheses, assessed their viability with RICE scores, and prioritised fixing the top problems from this list of a thousand cuts.

Through swift iteration and implementation, we ensured rigorous testing, closely monitoring how each solution impacted key metrics. By the end of the first quarter, we observed a notable uplift in the weekly active user metric and received feedback from in-app surveys indicating that users perceived Keys as on par, if not better than their existing password management solutions.

For a more comprehensive understanding of this project, a detailed case study can be presented upon request.

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2020 VPN App Redesign

Role: Visual Design, Prototyping, User Interviews, Illustration

In mid-2020, I was part of the team of designers collaborating with Design Studio to implement a fresh brand identity across our apps and website. This transformative task encompassed screens across six different apps, the main ExpressVPN website, communications, and more. I worked as one of two product designers integrating the visual foundation of Design Studio’s work into our app UIs.

We updated more than a thousand individual artboards between the two of us. Numerous rounds of feedback between brand, development, and design were conducted to refine the new colour choices, establish typography, and shape the brand voice in a contemporary yet practical manner. The majority of the work was completed by the end of 2020 and launched to customers at the start of 2021. Our collaboration with Design Studio led to the refreshed design receiving awards in Digital Product and Large Brand Identity.

One of the most exciting aspects of the new brand was the set of graphic patterns used to indicate how we interact with our devices - wipe, drag, pinch, push, rotate, and shake. We experimented with how these could become perceptual patterns within our UI. After rounds of iterations and testing to verify any impact on the product experience, we added the circular pattern to our signature VPN screen to reinforce the sense of protection when users interact with the connect button.

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Illustrations

In addition to product design, I also produced many illustrations that are used across our product and marketing efforts. For example:

• App illustrations used to communicate key selling points, instructions and error states
• Email header illustrations used across customer journey emails, particularly for ExpressVPN Keys
• Title images and infographics used within blogposts

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Support Site Content

I collaborated extensively with our content team to produce a substantial portion of screenshots and annotations currently featured on the ExpressVPN support site. This content serves to provide clear instructions for customers to set up the product, troubleshoot any issues, and configure additional functionalities. The creation of these visuals is a collaborative effort with the content strategist, aligning closely with their written instructions.

Data collected from the support site indicates that our combined efforts have significantly elevated the metric of users finding these articles helpful during their visit. This synergy between the annotated screenshots and written content has proven instrumental in aiding customers in effectively utilising and troubleshooting our product.

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