PROJECT OVERVIEW
Verizon Cloud
Verizon Cloud is a mobile app, a cloud backup platform with 100M+ installs that lets users store and access content across all their devices.
I’ve designed a new photo and video editing feature.
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Verizon is an enterprise telecommunications company and one of the largest providers in the United States, offering voice, data, and video services and solutions on its networks and platforms. Founded in 2000 and based in New York City, it serves 150M+ customers across its wireless and broadband services.
iOS App
PROBLEM DEFINITION
How to Provide an All-in-One Solution for Photos and Videos
Every photo and video we take is a small act of memory-making, a way to hold on to a moment we'll never get back exactly the same way again.
That emotional attachment is why secure cloud storage has become an expectation, not a bonus. People want their memories safe and accessible, always.
But once those memories are safely stored, most apps stop there. The photo just sits in the cloud, exactly as it was captured.
What if you could actually do something with it: trim a video, touch up a photo, create something new, right from the same place it's stored, without exporting to a separate editing app?
DESIGN PROCESS
Design Process
User research shaped the direction of this project from the start, driving a process of rapid iteration and continuous learning.
Since Verizon Cloud was an established product by the time I joined to work on the photo and video editing features, I was able to build on an existing user base and design system, grounding research in real user behavior rather than starting from assumptions, and ensuring the new features felt consistent with the rest of the product.
User Research
User interviews
Personas
Empathy map
Competitive analysis
Usability testing
A/B testing
Design
Hypothesis
User flows
Wireframes
High-fidelity design/prototype
Final design
Design handoff
USER RESEARCH
User Interviews
In interviews with 8 Verizon customers, participants revealed that they would like to have the ability to edit their photos and videos before sharing them, all within the Verizon Cloud app, expecting it to be an all-in-one solution for managing their media.
Persona
Defining a persona was a result of user interviews so this is where I described a typical or target user of the product, encompassing their needs, concerns, and goals when using the app.
Empathy Map
I’ve created an empathy map that digs deeper into how the user thinks and feels, using the “Says, Thinks, Does, Feels” structure. It captures their emotions, thoughts, pain points, and reactions in specific situations.
Competitive Analysis
Few competitors provide cloud storage, and they often lack the photo and video editing capabilities as well as the all-in-one functionality that Verizon Cloud offers.
DESIGN
Hypothesis
By introducing built-in photo and video editing tools, we will increase conversion and adoption rates by enabling users to quickly improve and personalize their content without leaving the app.
User Flow
This user flow translates the hypothesis into a clear path through the product, guiding users from stored content to quick, in-app editing.
Wireframes
Building on the user flow, I designed wireframes that delivered powerful photo and video editing tools while preserving the app's overall simplicity. The core challenge was structuring navigation and interactions to scale across all editing tools without introducing mismatched mental models.
USER RESEARCH
Usability Testing
I conducted a usability test with 6 Verizon customers, who successfully applied multiple photo editing options with minimal effort or friction.
A/B Testing
Additionally, I conducted A/B testing on two versions of the photo editing experience with 6 Verizon customers, to identify which one provided faster access to editing tools and a more efficient user experience.
Version A
Version A featured a hidden tab bar to maximize screen space, but required participants to switch between multiple screens to access editing tools, which caused some friction in the workflow.
Version B - Winner
In Version B, the tab bar remained visible, giving participants access to editing options at all times. To address the overlap with certain triggers, vertical scrolling was introduced to improve usability. Overall, participants preferred this version. In the final design, we removed the labels beneath the tab bar icons to save space and allow the icons to function independently.
SOLUTION
All-in-one solution for photos and videos
In addition to the ability to store and back up content, ensuring users can effortlessly access it across multiple devices at all times, users can now enhance their photos and videos with these easy-to-use editing tools:
Transform
Filters
Adjust
Stickers
Text
Markup
Sharpness
Black & White
Vignette
DESIGN
Final Design
The final solution is a simple, clean and intuitive photo and video editing experience. Users can easily navigate between many editing tools while making enhancements that bring out the best in their content.
The editing functionality is consistent for both photos and videos, providing a seamless experience. The result is an experience that feels like a natural extension of the product.
This feature was designed for iOS and Android using Verizon’s existing design system, aligned with Human Interface and Material Design guidelines.
Design Principles
Fitts’ Law
I placed high-frequency editing actions closer to users and made targets easier to tap, improving efficiency without distracting from the content.
Hick’s Law
To reduce cognitive load during editing, I applied progressive disclosure, revealing options per tap so users could focus on one decision at a time.
Challenges and Trade-Offs
Balancing Editing and Screen Real Estate
One of the primary challenges was presenting editing controls without taking up too much screen space, especially given the variety of mobile screen sizes. Every pixel of the display is valuable for showing the photo or video in its full size.
To address this, we minimized unnecessary visual elements while ensuring that all essential controls remained easily accessible and usable. This trade-off maintained a clean interface but required careful prioritization of which controls were most critical at each step of the editing process.
Handling Portrait vs. Landscape Aspect Ratios
Another challenge was supporting both portrait and landscape photos while minimizing unwanted cropping when editing in portrait mode. The solution was to make photos and videos dynamically adjust to the available screen space, which sometimes resulted in slight cropping to fit the viewport.
The trade-off here was accepting minor cropping to preserve a consistent and intuitive editing experience across different device sizes, rather than showing the full media at the cost of control accessibility or layout consistency.
The images below show the iOS app experience.
Photo Editing Features
Video Editing Features
Applying Filters
Applying Markup
IMPACT
KPIs
The new feature had a significant impact as demonstrated by key performance metrics.
2M+
monthly active users
18%
trial-to-paid conversion rate
74%
adoption rate
4.6/5
Apple App Store rating
4.1/5
Google Play Store rating
How We Measured Success
Trial-to-paid conversion rate (18%): Percentage of users who upgraded from the free trial to a paid subscription (post-launch).
Adoption rate (74%): Percentage of users performing meaningful in-app actions monthly, such as editing photos and videos.
Apple App Store rating (4.6/5): Based on 142,316 user ratings, with feedback highlighting ease of use.
Google Play Store rating (4.1/5): Based on 275,252 user ratings, with feedback emphasizing reliability and performance.
Usage metrics were tracked via Firebase.
Customer Feedback
“Very user-friendly cloud storage and editing tools.”
From the Apple App Store
“My overall experience has been absolutely amazing.”
From the Google Play Store
PROJECT DETAILS
Project Details
Role: Product Designer, UX Researcher
Company: Verizon
Industries: Telecom, Cloud Storage
Market: B2C
Team: Product Designer (me), Design Leadership, Product Manager, Engineering
Framework: Agile
Tools:
Design: Figma, Miro
User research: UserTesting.com
Project management: Jira, Confluence
Product analytics: Firebase
Year: 2019
Platform: Mobile