Overview
Flatten the browser - reduce the visual noise by taking out all the containers and drop shadows around first-party content (Copilot side pane, NTP, settings) and let web content go full-bleed.
Don’t ship the org chart - even though Copilot and Edge are different teams, users don’t care. Make the ‘integrated AI companion’ actually integrated by building it with browser theme tokens
Reduce engineering needs - let’s undo the custom modifications we do to the Chromium package we inherit. It requires engineering resources to maintain and the costs don’t make a meaningful difference to users.
Skills
Design envisioning
Product strategy
Executive buy-in
Team
Myself, self-directed
TODAY
1 / 2
These containers cause problems
In theory, differentiating web content from the browser chrome makes sense. But it requires engineering work to modify and maintain from the Chromium build that we inherit.
For instance, when an OS changes the corner radius on the app windows, our build breaks.
TODAY
2 / 2
The side pane doesn’t feel native
The current design treats the first party Copilot side pane the same as web content: in a container with a drop shadow. Looks like any other website.. especially when we change the browser theme.
PROPOSED
1 / 3
Web content is now full-bleed
No more custom containers to maintain. This example doesn’t illustrate it best haha but notice the top left of the web content and bottom right.
I’ve also cut the drop shadows in favor of a simple stroke.
PROPOSED
2 / 3
First party surfaces should feel like it
I rebuilt the Copilot side pane using browser theme tokens so it inherits the same color as the browser chrome. Now the native AI assistant flows seamlessly from the toolbar.
PROPOSED
3 / 3
Not just the side pane
There’s some other first party pages that would benefit from this simplified treatment. Look at the new tab page. A clean welcome from the browser. This could be applied to browser settings pages also.
Impact
Saw opportunity for improvement and worked on this outside of my normal responsibilities.
Consulted with engineering, system designers, feature owners, and leadership to cost implementation barriers and garner buy-in.
This vision has been set as our browser product goal. Work is resourced to make these changes over the coming months.