ProtonMail
Redefining Secure Email Through User-Centric Design
As the founding Lead Designer at Proton, I played an end-to-end role in building the foundation for a company that has grown from an indiegogo campaign to the world's leading encrypted email service, protecting over 100 million users worldwide. My role has evolved from being the sole designer in 2015 to managing and leading a team of 5 designers.
Project Overview
I played an end-to-end role in building the foundation for a company that has grown from an indiegogo campaign to the world's leading encrypted email service, protecting over 50 million users worldwide.
My role has evolved from being the sole designer in 2015 to managing and leading a team of 5 designers, responsible for all products and platforms.
- Built a new design team of 5
- Established the design language and system for all Proton products
- Led design of ProtonMail since beta, helping grow to over 50 million users
- Overseer of design-related tasks across platforms and various product verticals
Goals & Challenges
I faced the unique challenge of making complex encryption technology accessible to everyday users. The goal was to create an intuitive interface that maintained the highest security and privacy standards while delivering a seamless user experience. This required careful consideration of user workflows, security protocols, and design patterns that could scale with our rapidly growing user base.
The journey involved balancing multiple priorities: establishing a cohesive design language that reflected Proton's privacy-first ethos, building and managing a growing design team, and ensuring our interface remained intuitive despite the technical complexities of end-to-end encryption, while transition from a single product to a suite of products. Through iterative design and close collaboration with security experts, we successfully created a product that made privacy accessible to millions while maintaining the robust security our users depend on.
Key goals
- Establish a strong design language that reflects Proton's privacy-first ethos.
- Create intuitive, user-friendly interfaces for encrypted communication, accessible to both technical and non-technical users.
- Overcome technical limitations posed by encryption and privacy layers to deliver seamless user experiences.
- Scale the design approach to support Proton's rapid growth and future suite of products.
Challenges
- Designing for security and privacy while ensuring usability.
- Building trust through design in an ecosystem where skepticism of technology is common.
- Managing rapid growth and maintaining design consistency across platforms.
- Integrating complex encryption technology in an intuitive way.
- Scaling design operations and ensuring quality across diverse platforms (web, mobile, desktop).
First iOS version of ProtonMail
Process
As the founding designer at Proton, my work was at the forefront of all development efforts. Unlike traditional design processes, our approach was shaped by the dynamic nature of startup life. I had to constantly balance multiple priorities: optimizing ProtonMail's core experience, developing new features, building a design system, and leading a growing design team - all while expanding our product suite across web, desktop, and mobile platforms.
The reality of fast-paced startup development meant we often had to improvise and adapt. Our initial focus was on unblocking engineering teams with quick, practical design solutions. While we built what started as a basic style guide alongside product development, we regularly conducted user surveys to validate our design decisions and ensure we were truly serving our users' needs. This pragmatic approach allowed us to maintain momentum while gradually establishing more structured design processes.
1. Rapid Design & Development:
- Delivered quick, practical design solutions to unblock engineering teams and maintain development momentum.
- Balanced immediate product needs with long-term design vision.
2. Evolving Design System:
- Started with a basic style guide that evolved alongside product development.
- Gradually built up design patterns and components based on real product needs.
3. Multi-Platform Focus:
- Simultaneously designed for web, Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android platforms.
- Adapted design solutions for platform-specific requirements while maintaining consistency.
4. User-Driven Decisions:
- Conducted regular user surveys to validate design decisions and uncover pain points.
- Used real user feedback to prioritize design improvements and new features.
5. Team Leadership:
- Built and mentored a growing design team while actively contributing to product design.
- Established pragmatic design processes that balanced speed with quality.
Outcomes
The impact of our design work at Proton has been transformative, both for the company and its mission of protecting privacy worldwide. From our humble beginnings with 5 employees and 100,000 beta users, we grew to an organization of over 300 people serving more than 50 million users globally. Our design system became the foundation for Proton's entire product suite, enabling consistent experiences that make privacy accessible to everyone.
In a world of increasing surveillance, our work has helped journalists, activists, and everyday users protect their digital privacy. The success of our user-centric approach not only drove massive user adoption but also attracted top talent, allowing us to build a world-class design team. We proved that privacy tools can be both powerful and accessible, setting new standards for user experience in security-focused technology.
Company Growth
- Scaled from 5 to over 300 employees while maintaining our privacy-first culture and mission.
- Grew from 100k beta users to over 50 million users worldwide, becoming a leading privacy solution.
Global Impact
- Protected journalists and activists in regions with limited press freedom and high surveillance.
- Established Proton as a trusted privacy advocate and technology leader worldwide.
Design Evolution
- Built a comprehensive design system that scaled across the entire Proton product suite.
- Created intuitive interfaces that made complex privacy technology accessible to millions.
Reflection
Reflecting on my journey as the founding designer at Proton, I am proud of how we transformed from a small startup of 5 people to a global privacy leader with over 300 employees. The challenges of startup life - constant improvisation, rapid development, and wearing multiple hats - taught me invaluable lessons about adaptability and pragmatic design leadership. Building and scaling a design team while simultaneously developing products and systems was intense, but seeing our solutions protect millions of users worldwide made it worthwhile.
Most rewarding was witnessing how our user-centric approach to privacy technology helped Proton grow from 100,000 beta users to over 50 million users globally. The impact of our work extends beyond numbers - we're helping journalists and activists in surveillance-heavy regions maintain their privacy and security. This experience reinforced my belief that thoughtful design can make complex technology accessible while serving a greater purpose.
Learnings:
- Balancing rapid development needs with long-term design vision in a startup environment.
- The importance of pragmatic solutions over perfect processes when scaling quickly.
Proud Moments:
- Growing from the sole designer to leading a team that shaped privacy tools used by millions.
- Creating design systems that scaled from a single product to an entire privacy-focused ecosystem.
Growth:
- Learning to adapt and improvise while maintaining design quality in a fast-paced startup.
- Understanding how to balance user needs with technical constraints across multiple platforms.
- Developing leadership skills while building and mentoring a growing design team.
Early Proton Team; CEO, Engineering Lead, Archetecture Lead, Design Lead (me)