Discord Project Rapidash

I led product strategy and design for Project Rapidash, a zero-to-one project focused on helping users find recurring gaming groups. Through rapid iteration and testing, we developed identity and discovery features to help users find new servers, play games, and make new friends.

Design Lead

Jan 2024 —

Helping people find new gaming friends on Discord.

Timeframe

Jan 2024 —

Context

With the renewed company focus on gaming, we conducted social gaming user research which revealed an unmet need for making new friends. Turns out Discord originally centered on playing games with friends, but small, highly retentive friend servers remain undiscoverable, and only large communities are discoverable today. Our hypothesis is that if we host a collection of healthy friend servers that play games together and welcome new members, then people will join these servers, reach CPV at higher rates, and have a path to HFU.

Solution

We developed identity and discovery features to help smaller servers recruit new members and connect users with servers to make new friends. Inspired by matchmaking apps, we focused on pairing users based on games, skills, and interests while ensuring these servers are safe and welcoming. After testing multiple concepts, we will be launching these features (Server Profiles, Tags, and Membership Applications) in Q1 2025 as standalone features for all servers to maximize their impact.

Thanks to

Dabney Donigan, Lily Jen, Hong Ye Xu, Sharon Coone, Cat Tan, Derek Hammer, Matthew Kleppin, Stephanie Wang, Marcus Huderle, Alec Lee, Tem Gareys, and many more.

The Guilds Experiment

We ran a series of qualitative and quantitative experiments to narrow down on a concept that help people make new friends on Discord. This culminated in the Guilds experiment that lets people find small, friendly gaming servers.

The Guilds Experiment

We ran a series of qualitative and quantitative experiments to narrow down on a concept that help people make new friends on Discord. This culminated in the Guilds experiment that lets people find small, friendly gaming servers.

User journey brainstorm to help people find recurring group of people to play games with.

We explored many, many different friend making concepts in the span of two weeks.

We narrowed down on three promising concepts, and ran a fake door experiment to get user sentiment.

We narrowed down on three promising concepts, and ran a fake door experiment to get user sentiment.

Users can find new gaming servers to join based on games they play and vibe match.

Users can find new gaming servers to join based on games they play and vibe match.

We designed a step-by-step flow for admins to promote their servers and welcome new members.

We designed a step-by-step flow for admins to promote their servers and welcome new members.

Identity

Following the Guilds experiment, we unbundled its features and made them available to all servers. Identity is an essential component that allows servers and members to express themselves while helping potential members find the right vibe match.

Identity

Following the Guilds experiment, we unbundled its features and made them available to all servers. Identity is an essential component that allows servers and members to express themselves while helping potential members find the right vibe match.

Server Profile lets servers express themselves with customizable decorations, traits, games, and more.

Members can wear Tags next to their name to show off their association with the server.

Discovery

I led design explorations to highlight small, friendly servers in Server Discovery rather than large communities. Some of the key principles were reducing decision paralysis and enabling matchmaking based on user preferences.

Discovery

I led design explorations to highlight small, friendly servers in Server Discovery rather than large communities. Some of the key principles were reducing decision paralysis and enabling matchmaking based on user preferences.

Recruitment & Screening

We introduced Membership Applications to help admins protect their servers from bad actors and ensure a culture fit. Admins can create questions that prospective members must answer and get approved before joining.

Recruitment & Screening

We introduced Membership Applications to help admins protect their servers from bad actors and ensure a culture fit. Admins can create questions that prospective members must answer and get approved before joining.

design.
by roka.

I'd love to grab tea to talk about anything - from design and tech to esports and kpop. Shoot me an email and we can work something out.

Get in touch

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Made with lack of sleep and lots of tea in Santa Clara, CA.

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design.
by roka.

I'd love to grab tea to talk about anything - from design and tech to esports and kpop. Shoot me an email and we can work something out.

Get in touch

Email copied to clipboard!

Made with lack of sleep and lots of tea in Santa Clara, CA.