overview

This case study is currently in progress. A fuller breakdown of the research, iterations, and final design decisions is coming soon.

I redesigned how Discord users catch up on missed server messages after time away. What began as a project about "reconnecting with communities" shifted once research showed a different reality: most users do not want to dig through everything they missed. They only care about a small subset of servers, and when backlog piles up, many default to muting, ignoring, or mass-clearing messages just to make the noise disappear. In response, I designed a Highlights experience that helps users quickly judge what is worth their attention, dismiss what is not, and reduce future noise through lightweight relevance controls. This project challenged my original assumptions and pushed me to think more deeply about attention, trust, and designing for people who are already overwhelmed.