Overview

Yahoo Mail is one of the world’s most recognized email brands, with 54M daily active users (~70% on mobile). But after nearly 30 years, it has steadily lost market share to competitors like Gmail and Outlook. Many loyalists still rely on Yahoo Mail to triage the “business of life,” while others relegate it to a secondary “junk inbox.” Meanwhile, new users often don’t consider Yahoo at all.

To address this decline, Yahoo launched Orbit — a complete redesign of the mobile Mail app aimed at modernizing the experience, reducing churn, and resetting brand perception as the go-to inbox for personal productivity.

I joined the Orbit team in May 2025 as Principal Content Designer, leading content strategy for the end-to-end redesign. While my scope spanned navigation, feature introductions, and system-wide terminology, the onboarding and sign-up flows became the most critical place for content design to deliver impact — setting expectations, reducing friction, and reintroducing Yahoo Mail’s value to both loyalists and new audiences.

My Role & Approach

Role: Principal Content Designer (Contract)
Scope: End-to-end content design and strategy for Orbit mobile redesign, with focus on onboarding & sign-up.

• E2E Redesign Ownership
  I defined content systems across navigation, onboarding, feature introductions (e.g., Planner), and cross-platform terminology. I partnered closely with product, design, engineering, marketing, localization, and inclusive design teams to ensure patterns were consistent and accessible across mobile and desktop.

• Onboarding & Sign-Up Focus
  I refined sign-up flows and clarified CTAs to reduce drop-off. The content strategy balanced continuity and reassurance for loyalists with modern productivity language that resonated with new users.

• Research Collaboration
  I also partnered with UX Research to validate value propositions, reduce churn risk, and measure customer sentiment around the redesign. Insights revealed that the current user base prioritized ease of triage and personal productivity, while new users cared most about smart tools and relevance. These findings shaped the messaging hierarchy and built a foundational understanding of how to address change-aversion among Yahoo’s base.

Outcomes (Pre-Launch)

• Designed unified onboarding and sign-up framework that eases transition for current users and reduces friction for new ones.

• Established voice, tone, and terminology systems scalable across the redesigned app and future features.

• Defined onboarding content strategy for current users and new users.

• Influenced messaging hierarchy and marketing research strategy using quantitative survey insights on value propositions.

The deck below requires a password thegoodslife as this work is still in progress.