Avast Online Security & Privacy

We took a sidelined browser extension with 12M+ installs and brought it back into the spotlight. Along with a brand new visual style, reformed information architecture, and a revised feature set, we introduced an interactive Privacy Advisor guide system.

Through a meticulous design and development process, our team delivered a fully refreshed product to praise from users and leadership. Avast Online Security & Privacy made a strong return and started to play an integral role as a major digital touchpoint for both existing and potential customers.

At the core of our design process we employed the classic double diamond design model. The initial kick-off and discovery phase were covered by my teammate Petr, who thoroughly explored multiple directions and produced an extensive body of research.

I picked up the torch when it came to narrowing down the scope, defining the problem, expanding the work from concepts to high fidelity, testing, and delivering the final results.

After multiple rounds of presenting new concepts to stakeholders and gathering feedback from designers and engineers, I received the green light to produce high-fidelity assets and build a prototype in Figma.

With this prototype, we were able to collect more feedback both internally and externally. Qualitative user testing was conducted with three target groups:

• People who were already using this browser extension.
• People who were using our products and were familiar with the brand.
• General participants with no prior familiarity with our products.

Users responded well to the redesign, particularly the new light visual style, and they navigated the product with ease.

There were a few moments when some people did not understand the meaning of a feature because the concept itself was unfamiliar. We addressed that by simplifying verbose copy and, in some cases, replacing paragraphs with a single line plus a link to the relevant help section on the website.

We also documented all instances where users hesitated or struggled to locate an action, so I could smooth out rough edges like that as well.

After a couple more iteration cycles, we were satisfied with the new designs, so it was time to hand them off to development. As a designer, I always try to support the devs' workflow by including them in the process as early as possible and providing meaningful, self-contained deliverables as the project moves forward.

This gave engineers a much easier time with sprint planning and let them work on the foundation while hi-fi designs were still being prepared and finalized.

Some examples from this project:

• Early prioritization and alignment on which features we were keeping or letting go. This let developers refactor old code and begin groundwork for new features on a solid backend foundation.
• Parallel work on the general structure, so the team had a clear idea of what to expect for frontend development.
• Designing and shipping collateral items as early as possible, such as new Privacy Advisor messages, interactive guides, updated static web pages, and scenario-specific messaging, before frontend implementation became fully occupied with the main UI.

During development I had close back-and-forth with engineers to make sure everything matched the established vision. Once visuals started coming in, we held regular sessions to iron out rough spots. Despite the team working remotely, I happened to be in the same city as our main frontend developer, so we made the most of it and worked together in person.

Avast has a wide array of analytics tools to establish and track almost any metric, all stripped of personal data. Some of the things we looked at included:

• New onboarding: completion rates and immediate feature opt-ins. About a year later, we shortened and simplified onboarding to drive users to the main UI faster.
• Product adoption: how and when people engaged with the product during the first 30 days, including uninstall rate.
• Usage & interaction: more specific data on how people used each feature, helping us understand what brought the most value.
• Privacy Advisor: guide completion, depth, popularity across guides, platform rankings, and other engagement signals.
• Campaigns: engagement with promotional in-product messaging and cross-sell opportunities, later extended into a subscription-based model.
• Feedback: NPS, surveys, built-in quick feedback forms, store review dynamics, and additional rounds of user testing.
• Churn and retention: installs versus uninstalls after the redesign. We saw an initial uninstall spike from dormant users who rediscovered the extension, then installs significantly outpaced uninstalls once that wave passed and promotional campaigns resumed.

It was a fascinating design-driven project. I'm grateful for the chance to lead such a significant part of the design process and see the success of our efforts. Huge thanks to everyone involved.

By the end of my time with the company, AOSP was the product I felt most attached to. After the redesign, it began to bring a lot of value to people and became much more delightful to use, which is the combination that ultimately matters most.