Overview
As a product designer on the Live Team, I collaborated with designers, product managers, and engineers to create new live and core chat experiences across mobile and desktop. I shipped five new features for Reddit's Live Chat and core Chat products.
Team: Robinson Scott (PD), Donny Guy (DM), Stella Yang (PM)
Duration: 12 weeks
Highlights
But First... What is Reddit Live Chat?
Live chats are real-time conversations where redditors could discuss and react to each other live. They served as casual conversation lounges for redditors to connect with one another over events like game day matches, episode premieres, tech launches, news, etc.
Feature 1: Ending and locking a live chat
This feature gave moderators the new ability to end a live chat post and created new distinctions between active and concluded chats.
Pills indicate if a chat is live or ended, along with the number of users.
I created a new icon for a button that only moderators see to end and lock the chat.
A countdown timer proactively alerts users that the chat is ending.
Feature 2: Core and live chat merger
Previously, there was no universal way for Redditors to return to all their live chat conversations, fragmenting the live chat experience.
I integrated live chats within the existing chat tab, creating a singular destination for Reddit users to conveniently find all their live conversations, direct messages, and group chats.
Feature 3: Alerting users of new reactions
An integrated redditbot comment alerts users that they can react to messages within a chat, increasing engagement within synchronous conversations.
Feature 4: Side conversations
Unlike normal reddit posts, live chats previously didn't allow conversation threading within them. My designs enabled users to create threads or side conversations, enhancing the live chat experience with a core Reddit feature.
The full screen chat window is shown below, followed by the mobile experience.
Feature 5: The Live Discovery Page
Given the redesigned chat tab, I created a discovery section that helped users find new live conversations they're interested in and differentiated between conversations they'd already joined and had yet to discover.
Pressing "View all" in the discovery section leads to the "Discover Live" page, where users can find new live chats and talks to join.
I also specced dark mode designs for the full-fledged chat tab and live discovery page.
Product Thinking
Designing at Reddit also gave me numerous opportunities to hone my product thinking skills. Here are some of the most valuable lessons I picked up:
Reflection
Sunset from the Reddit SF office towards the end of my internship
Reddit taught me so much about what it's like to design for a business that at its core has always been about fostering community. Over the 17 years it's existed, Reddit has undergone immense visual and product design transformations, and its users have often been critical over these changes. However, Reddit's dedicated fanbase and unique attraction among netizens is still indicative of how deeply it pays attention to making something that people love. As a designer, I couldn't have asked for a better place to grow and receive amazing mentorship.
