App Redesign | Slack
Timeline
2 Months
Type Branding, UI/UX
Group members
Madeline Weeda
Alex Mays
Emily Kaman
ProjectChoose an app that has a difficult interface and information hierarchy and redesign the layout and mapping of the map. This group project is to understand the importance of hierarchy and choose an appropriate mapping to fit the needs of users and apply a new branding benchmark, research and test to insure that all information hierarchy fits the needs of the user.
The goal is to make the Slack application more user friendly by improving information hierarchy and organization by adding a central homepage to view all Workspaces and create a less overwhelming user interface, also adding features to help users find messages and app features such as making pinned messages easier to locate and adding features that make links and previous images sent easier to find, and personalizing the user experience so it is unique to each user and fits the needs for their functions of the app.
Personas used were average people who use Slack in their professional lives as well as education in small groups.
Benchmarking
Discord
-
App for communicating with friends, like Slack but for casual
-
interactions
- Has similar function with channels, sections within channels
- Allows for customization based on which channel you are in
- Can set status
Teams
- App that focuses on communicating with others more professionally, similar to Slack in how it works
- Similar channel features as Discord
- Has a status bar to set or others to see
Canvas
- App for homework / communicating with professors and staying organized
- Classes have their own messaging sections to professors and others in that class
- Centralized section for viewing all notifications from professors
Frustrations were compiled from user tests done by the group and others, some having similarity with the app and others not.
- Difficult to find links or photos sent in a particular channel and recent messages
- Difficult for new users to navigate
- Frustrating being unable to see notifications between different sections
- Channels organized alphabetically, makes it inconvenient to get to channels
- Overwhelming amount of information
- Some functions lack purpose and others are grouped in illogical ways for purpose
Reworking the architecture of the app became one of the biggest processes as the original was busy and overwhelming for users of all experience levels.
Notes Included:
- Chaotic
- Lots of hidden information that has too many buttons to access
- Overwhelming for new users
- Only accounted for one workspace
The proposed new information architecture would include:
- Bottom Navigation Bar contains all global functions (Notifications, Workspaces)
- Added a home screen with user’s workspaces
- Rethought the Workspace Home to
include a search, DMs, Channels,
Voice Channels, & Workspace Members
Mock Ups