apr 2016 - jan 2018
I joined Amazon Key as the second design hire when it was still an experimental offering and an S-Team–backed initiative. I contributed to both the launch and the post-beta release phases, helping transform it from concept to reality.
Project Overview
Amazon Key’s product team was chartered to capture the $10 B in-home and in-car services market while adding differentiated value to Prime members.
Only a small minority—about 1% of consumers, suggested they would be comfortable in using Amazon Key in our early pre-launch polling.
As the early designer in the product, I was instrumental in bringing in qualitative findings through user research for this data. We iterated relentlessly as a team to design the entire product for trust and security.
Approach
Because design was embedded early in the product development journey, I was able to champion a best-in-class user experience, leveraging usability studies and alpha-pool customer feedback to guide decisions.
While the original plan was limited to an automatic lock for entry, we advocated adding a front-door–facing camera so customers could see every delivery entry in real time—building transparency and trust.
IA iterations
scalable navigation
The app’s information architecture and navigation were intentionally designed for both discoverability and scalability, resulting in a highly intuitive experience. Its flexible structure made it easy to scale features up or down based on each user’s unique profile, ensuring relevance while maintaining a seamless, easy-to-navigate flow.
with a specific focus on delivery
The scalable IA exercise served as a forcing function to help the product team narrow the scope for launch. For the beta release, we focused the experience as a “Delivery-only” app, ensuring that every interaction — including core events like lock and unlock — was centered exclusively around delivery.
integrating with
delivery & shopping
Partnered across Amazon Shopping and Amazon Flex to align design and copy on Key’s offerings, ensure seamless integration, and close the feedback loop. Personally briefed and trained up to 150 Delivery Service Partner drivers on the new experience; fed learnings back into the product to refine flows and reduce friction for both customers and couriers.
Outcomes
"Amazon Key has helped customers avoid missed orders and deliveries with secure, customer-managed access to homes and garages for several years now. Our new Access Control System takes this to the next level, introducing a range of new tools and options designed for property managers and residents who live in multi-family buildings and gated communities."
— Kaushik Mani (Director, Amazon Key)