Navigation Modernization
Lead / Solo designer for Navigation, other designers for Onboarding/Dashboard updates
Core driver
Merge SMB-focused Smart mode back into main Expert experience, as experiment maintaining separate modes did not yield high enough ROI.
Issues discovered from audit/user DSAT
1. Overloaded navigation patterns (i.e. "Tools" junk drawer, global navigation)
2. Object scope/hierarchy confusion/duplication (All / Campaign / Ad group)
Additional goals
Reduce cognitive load for SMB users without limiting expert workflows
Maintain familiarity for users also using Google Ads
Align with Microsoft Fluent 2 design system
Enable future cross-product scalability
Key design decisions
1. Replaced "Tools" junk drawer with customizable tools list on left
Utilize onboarding data collected to prepopulate relevant tools
Improved discoverability of frequently used and new features
2. Merged scope and context together for less duplication in UI
Most balanced discoverability vs visual complexity option found through usability testing
Enabled dropdown-based access to campaign hierarchies, fallback of pinning pane for expert users
3. Enabled dynamic interaction models depending on account hierarchy to remove visual complexity if not needed
SMB users - single performance max campaign
Expert users - multi-level breadcrumb forming scope with all campaigns pages
4. Created rollback settings for pilot
Allowed users to temporarily revert to legacy navigation
Reduced CSAT risk during rollout if any issues remained after user testing
Impact
5-star reviews increased from 56% → 69% during pilot
Search usage increased from 0.54% → 11.7% from fixing overloaded global navigation
Switch-back rate remained at 1% while offered
Kicked off extension of central company design system specific for our enterprise monetization products
Scalable component enabled rapid Monetize and Curate implementation
Reduced design timeline by one month for cross product reuse
Able to delegate product specific work to another designer with light supervision/guidance
