Transforming a complex virtual office into a familiar, modern tool for remote teams
Gather
Gather is a virtual office that helps remote teams collaborate more naturally. As Lead Product Designer, I led the information architecture and navigation foundation for Gather 2.0 — transforming a map-first product with collaboration squeezed into a side panel into a familiar workspace built around meetings, chat and presence.
We aligned the redesign around three principles: Familiar, Modern and Professional. I explored the new structure through workshops, prototypes and live dogfooding, then worked with the team to ship a more flexible meeting experience, a redesigned navigation system and an Office Preview that kept people connected from anywhere in Gather.
Meetings without the walk
I redesigned the information architecture and navigation so meetings, chat and people were much easier to get to. The new meeting experience meant you no longer had to walk across the office just to join a call. It felt a lot more familiar, using patterns people already knew from Slack, Teams and Google Meet.
Staying connected anywhere in Gather
One of my favourite features was Meeting and Office Preview. It let you stay connected to the meeting you were in—or see the people around you—while using the rest of Gather. There were lots of tricky states to work through, especially when people moved between meetings, chat and the office.
