Engaging Users with Immersive GenAI FRE

Context

First Run Experiences (FRE) have become an essential component of any digital product today. When Microsoft Edge is first installed and launched, it directs users to a FRE page. This experience allows users to select a few key preferences and customize the browser to their liking. The existing FRE experience fulfills its purpose, but users have consistently desired more options. As the product team, we believed that by making the FRE more engaging and immersive, users would be more inclined to explore it further and personalize the browser more extensively. We have also gathered insights indicating that users who spend more time personalizing a product tend to spend more time on average with it. With this knowledge, I empowered and guided the team to envision a truly immersive first run experience.

Research

An initial round of secondary competitive product research was conducted to gather inspiration and understand examples of contemporary FRE. This included browsers such as Chrome, Safari, Opera, Firefox, Arc, and Brave.

Some common elements found in all FREs are:

• All browsers utilize a First Run Experience (FRE) to acquaint their users with essential features and gather information about them.

• Not all browser FREs provide theming options.

• FREs are always non-blocking, aiming to balance the FRE and users getting started.

• Visually, all FREs are designed to be impressive and aesthetically appealing.

• Most FREs use motion and animation to make it extremely appealing.

We applied these insights to develop an industry-leading FRE that incorporates personalization.

Vision

The initial vision that emerged was a full-page glossy, modern, interactive experience, enhanced with meaningful motion design that guided users from one screen to the next. Every design element had its specific place and was highlighted with subtle motion when necessary. The browser screen element transitioned smoothly from one screen to another, retaining any customization made in the previous screen.

Most importantly, the design also included a Generative AI theme generator. Users could use prompts to create their own unique themes. This AI feature would eventually permeate all personalization pages of Edge and became very popular with users.

Some design principles we followed:

• Make it optional.

• Make it unique, fun and engaging.

• Make it visually stunning.

• Make it understandable by anyone.

Upon its SBS testing phase, the design received overwhelmingly positive feedback from users. Furthermore, we underwent numerous iterations and reviews with the executive team. The vision design possessed both advantages and disadvantages.

The benefits of this vision included:

• It was distinctive.

• It was enjoyable and highly engaging.

• It provided an exceptional feel when used.

However, there were certain drawbacks:

• It did not align with the Edge design system.

• It was not the most efficient method for personalization.

• It felt unfamiliar to existing users.

• It posed a risk due to its unique visual treatment.

Based on diverse inputs, I guided the design solution that successfully struck a balance between familiarity, adherence to the design system, delight, efficiency, and scalability. This newly designed interface, while simplifying the user experience, retained the subtle motion designs and animations. Consequently, the team secured executive approval.

Impact

Although this project is still in the development phase, it has already fostered trust within the executive team. Preliminary testing and SBS studies indicate that users are highly probable of adopting this feature and enhancing their engagement with Edge. Moreover, the project’s visual design facilitated the acquisition of Design Engineering funding. Overall, this project represents another notable achievement by the design team under my leadership, garnering substantial executive attention due to its potential impact.