About the Session

When companies create gender neutral products, ‘neutral’ can sometimes skew male. Smartphones are sized for male hands, voice recognition optimized for male voices and content offered for stereotypically male interests. It’s no surprise that more men are online than women in ⅔ of the world’s countries.

How might we bring more female users on board to drive growth? Google Go, a new internet app for emerging markets, researched barriers that keep women offline. Rachel tells the story of this work, exploring our assumptions about privacy and content, and looking at the role cultural perception plays in adoption.

About the Speaker

Rachel Ilan Simpson

Design Lead at Google

Rachel is a Senior Designer, with 10+ years experience working with award-winning Design Agencies, ground-breaking Startups, and on teams at Google since 2013 (Chrome, Search, Duo). Clients and collaborators include Seth Godin, BMW/DriveNow, Doctors without Borders, and Freeletics.

She has led 20+ Design Sprints, driving organizational change with Doctors Without Borders, and transforming translation in Chrome. She co-founded the first German version of the Maker Faire (Make Munich, and founded Design Jam (designj.am).