ChatFusion

THE PROBLEM

If you’re anything like me, your phone has an inordinate amount of messaging apps downloaded. You want to stay in touch with the people in your life, but they all have different app preferences for different contexts.

Variety may be the spice of life, but trying to find a specific message when you’re not sure which app it was on is frustrating. Furthermore, opening several apps trying to keep up with messages can be an overwhelming experience.

Is there a better way to approach messaging services? What would that look like?

UI Brainstorm

With this problem space in mind, I began to brainstorm features to include in an integrative messaging app.
• A main inbox that shows all messages in one space
• Allow users to filter messaging services
• A search tool to search throughout all messages
• A filter function that allows users to filter by date, contact, and content
• Messages through multiple platforms from an individual contact appear in the same space
• Indication of which app these messages were sent from
• Allow the user to choose which app they would like to send their message to

Competitive Analysis

I also wanted to take a closer look at the common patterns within messenger apps, in order to ensure I used UI patterns that would be familiar to the user. I took a look at the most popular platforms such as Whatsapp, Messenger, Instagram DM, Signal, Gmail, WeChat, etc.

Lo-fi Wireframes

I took some time to quickly iterate different layout concepts early on, making a decision on which to go forward with after review. Below are a few examples with an explanation included.

Variation 1:
A drop-down approach to switching categories.

Variation 2:
A hamburger menu to switch categories. New message and setting buttons on right top nav.

Variation 3:
The icon that indicates which app the last message was sent from is moved to the left side after the contact icon.

Variation 4:
The drop-down category switcher is moved down as a title to the message list.

Variation 5:
An experimental approach to switching categories that brings up a dial to pick your app from. Fun and instantaneous but deemed to not be universally accessible.

High-fidelity prototype

After deciding on key features, identifying UI patterns in popular messaging apps, and structuring the general layout of the app, I fleshed out the high-fidelity prototype. My intention was to use a minimal approach as to make the content itself stand out. I took some time to strike the right balance between generous spatial allowance for content with an appropriate font/icon size. As for the interaction design, I wanted the interactions to feel smooth and prompt. Most of all, I wanted to give the user the right amount of information about their messages in a straight-forward way, by reducing unnecessary visual noise.

Conclusion

This was a great project because I got to practice minimalist design, work with mobile space constraints, and come up with smooth interactions for the prototype.

There are a few features that I thought to add but decided it wasn't the right decision for the minimum viable product, especially because this product is supposed to simplify the messaging experience - in my mind, it needs to start out with as simple and functional an experience as it can possibly be. I think I was successful in keeping with the primary goal of the project.

If this product were to get rolled out and adopted, I would consider adding features such as the ability to create social groups beyond "favourites" (i.e. - work, hobby group, family, etc.), cross-app video/voice calls, and potentially the ability to pin conversations.

With over 3 billion people worldwide actively using messaging apps, and 10+ messaging apps with at least a million downloads, it was rewarding to work on a project that attempts to simplify this universal digital experience.