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Gboard (iOS)
Role: Critical Interaction Designer (Founding Team)
Timeline: 2015 – 2016 Team: Search, iOS Engineering, Creative Lab
Impact: Webby Award Winner | Product of the Year | 1.8M Downloads (Q2)
In 2015, Google faced a major barrier on mobile: users had to leave their messaging apps to look up information, creating friction in the Search journey. The goal was to build a 3rd-party keyboard for iOS that brought Google Search directly into the conversation.
Apple’s iMessage extension framework was incredibly restrictive. It did not support horizontal scrolling or webviews, and imposed strict height limitations, making it nearly impossible to show rich search results.
We had to fit a full Search Engine, GIF search, and Emoji keyboard into the bottom third of a phone screen without overwhelming the user or breaking the typing flow.
The "Modular Card" Framework
To solve the strict iOS height and scrolling restrictions, I invented a new way to display search results.
I designed the "Modular Small Card" framework. This was a novel UI pattern that allowed result cards (Maps, Restaurants, Videos) to display essential data in a condensed vertical format that fit within the keyboard height.
Collaborated with engineers to implement it in a 2-week sprint, and it was subsequently adopted by the Google Allo team and Gboard for Android, unifying the visual language across the company.
Beyond the visual layout, the interaction model had to be lightning-fast to match the speed of typing.
I designed the interaction flows for sharing content (GIFs, Emoji, Search results) ensuring they were accessible within 1-2 taps.
Defined the categorization logic for Emoji and GIF search, allowing users to find expressive content instantly without leaving the keyboard context.
The app achieved 1.8M initial downloads in Q2 2016 and reached 548K DAU immediately post-launch.
Gboard was voted Product Hunt’s "Tech Product of the Year" and included in Time Magazine’s "50 Best Apps of the Year"
This work contributed directly to winning the 2017 Webby Award for Best App (Utilities & Services).