This was a group project for CSC 536: Human Computer Interaction at NC State. Our team conducted a structured UX analysis of Discord to address two recurring pain points: information overload in large servers and the lack of visibility in direct messages. We focused on evidence-backed, engineering-friendly changes that improve usability without disrupting Discord’s real-time experience.
View Full Project Report (PDF)
The Friction
- Users in academic and large servers struggle to catch up on long threads and fast-moving channels.
- DM participants feel uncertain about whether messages have been read, creating coordination anxiety.
- These issues map directly to Nielsen’s heuristics on visibility of system status and flexibility of use.
The Research
- Ran surveys with 65+ participants and conducted interviews to capture real usage patterns.
- Performed a heuristic evaluation against Nielsen’s 10 heuristics to surface violations in system feedback and efficiency.
- Benchmarked Discord against Slack (threading), WhatsApp (read indicators), and Telegram (folder organization).
- Produced high-fidelity Figma mockups to validate UI placement and interaction flow.
The Technical Solution
AI-Driven “Summarize” Button
A channel-level summarize action uses an LLM to generate a concise, bulleted recap of missed messages. This reduces recognition-over-recall burden while keeping users in the flow of real-time chat.
Granular Read Status Indicators
Sent/Delivered/Read checks in DMs and a “Read Details” view for groups restore visibility of system status and reduce coordination ambiguity.
