Case study · Docusign mobile · 2022

Docusign for Android on large screens

Working with Samsung and Google to make Docusign’s Android app adapt to tablets and foldables, and to improve its accessibility along the way.

  • 2022shipped for foldables
  • 2screens side by side
  • 2platform partners
  • 6accessibility focus areas

Early to foldables. Now that they’re going mainstream, many more teams are designing for them.

Role
Lead mobile designer for the foldable signing experience, partnering with Jonathan Ruiz, who led the project
Partners
Samsung and Google
Press
Docusign eSignature Mobile Updates: Improvements for Large Screens and More · September 9, 2022

Overview

Phones were unfolding into tablets, but Docusign’s Android app still worked one screen at a time.

The problem

The app didn’t support two screens side by side. On a tablet or an unfolded phone like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4, people moved back and forth between their agreements and the document, and reviewing and signing were harder than they needed to be.

The goal

Use the larger screen to make reviewing and signing more accessible: the document and its details together, a place that holds when the device folds, and layouts that work with TalkBack, keyboards, and larger text.

A foldable phone, unfolded, showing Docusign’s My Dashboard on the left and an open agreement document on the right.
On foldables, the dashboard and document sit side by side.

My part

  • Led the mobile design for foldable signing, so it held up as the device folded and unfolded.
  • Worked with Samsung’s and Google’s teams on the accessibility details.
  • Partnered with Jonathan Ruiz, who led the project.

What changed

The adaptive layouts and the accessibility work shipped together, tested with Samsung and Google on real foldable devices.

Much of the work lived in the moments in between: what happens to the document, the signature, and screen reader focus when the screen changes shape.

A tablet showing Docusign’s My Dashboard with a navigation menu on the left, agreement counts, and a list of recent agreements.
The redesigned home screen with a navigation menu on a tablet.

For larger screens

  • Responsive panes that rearrange for every window size and orientation.
  • A document details pane beside the document.
  • Foldable signing: scroll the document on the top half, sign on the bottom.
  • Stylus signing with pens like Samsung’s S Pen.
  • Drag and drop from other apps in multi-window view to start an envelope.
  • A redesigned home screen with a navigation menu and press-and-hold bulk actions.

For accessibility

  • TalkBack across every new layout.
  • Focus order between panes, from the dashboard to the document beside it.
  • Touch targets that stay comfortable at every size.
  • Text scaling that reflows instead of clipping.
  • Folding mid-task without losing your place or your focus.
  • Real-device testing on foldables, not just emulators.