Tab Maker

Bringing Google Sheets and a no-code interface to the masses so they can take over the new tab page.

What:

UX Design, Visual Design

Who:

Google Creative Lab

Impact:

Launched as a Google Experiment and very popular in the education community

Project year:

2021

Problem area

While there are many ways for people to promote themselves on the internet, it can be hard for their target audience to find them. The new tab page is one of the most viewed pages in Chrome, and is the perfect place to discover content serendipitously. However, creating extensions to transform this page requires coding knowledge. This can be a high barrier to entry for many.

My role

This project started from an extension I coded myself, that displayed work from creatives of colour in every new tab. The extension used Google Sheets as a content feed. To enable more people to create extensions like this, I designed the UX and UI for a no-code design tool and brought it to life with developers. To promote the tool I creatively directed designers to develop the website, film and social assets.

Outcome

A no code tool that enables anyone to design a new tab extension to showcase their ideas on the new tab page. The Tab Maker tool uses Google Sheets as a content feed, so creators can constantly update the content, and collaborate with others to keep their extension fresh.

Behind the scenes

Creating personas:

In 2020, Google Sheets full of creatives were shared to help increase diversity in the creative industry. We wanted to see what we could do to help promote this talent. Through user research and brainstorms we found an opportunity. The new tab page is one of the most viewed pages in Chrome. By default, it is used as a doorway to Google Search, but it can be transformed using Chrome extensions. We wanted to see if we could help anyone make an extension to showcase their work in this page. So we mapped out the entire process of building a chrome extension and identified ways we could lower the barrier to entry, such as removing the need to code and adding templated designs. We then used this map to develop the Tab Maker tool.

Removing the need to code:

Observing people using Tab Maker:

New extensions + education:

Tab Maker has been used by MoMA to build their new tab extension. It has also been really popular in the education community.

Creating personas:

In 2020, Google Sheets full of creatives were shared to help increase diversity in the creative industry. We wanted to see what we could do to help promote this talent. Through user research and brainstorms we found an opportunity. The new tab page is one of the most viewed pages in Chrome. By default, it is used as a doorway to Google Search, but it can be transformed using Chrome extensions. We wanted to see if we could help anyone make an extension to showcase their work in this page. So we mapped out the entire process of building a chrome extension and identified ways we could lower the barrier to entry, such as removing the need to code and adding templated designs. We then used this map to develop the Tab Maker tool.

Creating personas:

In 2020, Google Sheets full of creatives were shared to help increase diversity in the creative industry. We wanted to see what we could do to help promote this talent. Through user research and brainstorms we found an opportunity. The new tab page is one of the most viewed pages in Chrome. By default, it is used as a doorway to Google Search, but it can be transformed using Chrome extensions. We wanted to see if we could help anyone make an extension to showcase their work in this page. So we mapped out the entire process of building a chrome extension and identified ways we could lower the barrier to entry, such as removing the need to code and adding templated designs. We then used this map to develop the Tab Maker tool.

Creating personas:

In 2020, Google Sheets full of creatives were shared to help increase diversity in the creative industry. We wanted to see what we could do to help promote this talent. Through user research and brainstorms we found an opportunity. The new tab page is one of the most viewed pages in Chrome. By default, it is used as a doorway to Google Search, but it can be transformed using Chrome extensions. We wanted to see if we could help anyone make an extension to showcase their work in this page. So we mapped out the entire process of building a chrome extension and identified ways we could lower the barrier to entry, such as removing the need to code and adding templated designs. We then used this map to develop the Tab Maker tool.

Creating personas:

In 2020, Google Sheets full of creatives were shared to help increase diversity in the creative industry. We wanted to see what we could do to help promote this talent. Through user research and brainstorms we found an opportunity. The new tab page is one of the most viewed pages in Chrome. By default, it is used as a doorway to Google Search, but it can be transformed using Chrome extensions. We wanted to see if we could help anyone make an extension to showcase their work in this page. So we mapped out the entire process of building a chrome extension and identified ways we could lower the barrier to entry, such as removing the need to code and adding templated designs. We then used this map to develop the Tab Maker tool.

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