As a college student, I, like many others, consider iMessage to be my most prized possession. Hours away from home, running around amongst thousands on this huge campus, from class, to dining hall, to library, iMessage is an essential way to stay connected to the people around me during my busy schedule. However, I always seem to leave the people I care about behind.

‍I absentmindedly scroll through the iMessage homepage, my anxiety starting to form as message after message pops up, unanswered. My mom, my best friend from my hometown, my grandma who lives halfway across the world, all people I have said I would respond to, until they get buried under the barrage of other messages, dust forming as days turn into weeks.

With the current landing page, masses of messages from all types of individuals build upon each other, a visual nightmare for users. I use iMessage as an outlet to stay in contact with all the people in my life in real-time, however I cannot do that effectively because:

I don't know how to prioritize the people I care about.

THE FINAL PROTOTYPE

USER RESEARCH

Now, I am not the only person dealing with the ramifications of iMessages' existing system, as proved by the estimated 1.3 billion iMessage users around the world. And so, I began conducting user interviews of other phone-obsessed college students.

I interviewed avid iMessage users, people who open the app 50+ times throughout the day in order to stay connected in our digital world, to test my original thoughts and find more specific pain points that users encounter when trying to stay connected to those around them. Here’s what I found:

All users I interviewed found that they feel the worst when they forget to respond to the people closest to them, however there is no organized way currently, to make sure these specific people will get responded to fastest, over all other incoming messages.

While iMessage may include a pin feature on the homepage, this is disorganized, visually being a jumble of circles in no particular order, and does not include a narrative of deciding who is important and why this is. Pins are not flexible enough, and can be overwhelming to look at for users, and so a clearer categorization system must be discovered.

SOLIDIFYING THE PROBLEM

After having conducted user research that affirmed my original thoughts, while also pinpointing exactly what users needed, I came to my updated people problem:

iMessage allows for users to communicate with a variety of people instantly.
However, it is not highly effective because:

(1) After the first initial notification, it is easy for messages to get lost and forgotten
(2) Users can’t respond quickly to important chats because they are not organized

IDEATION

After an intense solution ideation session, I was left with with 3 main areas of improvement:

How might we create a hierarchy of importance for contacts?
How might we remind users of messages that need responses?
How might we suggest response times for users in accordance with user preferences?

From those areas of improvement, I focused on 2 major solution spaces, being
‍(1) a priority hierarchy, and (2) message reminders.

Under these solution spaces, I chose 6 individual solutions to further explore.

Potential Solutions

After weighting my solutions according to feasibility and impact, I decided on 3 solutions to pursue with low-fidelity flows. I needed a solution that considered both extremes, while being inclined towards higher impact, as iMessage currently exacerbates user habits and negatively affects relationships.

Low-Fidelity Flows

Starring messages: Displaying a homepage where users can manually star important messages, which would automatically rise to the top.

Snoozing notifications: Allowing users to snooze notifications, meaning they would receive continuous notifications at set times as reminders to respond to messages.

Creating groups: Creating customization for users to organize groups of people on the homepage.

At this point, I reminded myself of the people problem, where users want to both stay on top of unanswered messages, and organize their most important chats. My solution should create an environment where users can stay truly connected to those dear to them, with faster response times and visual reminders.

The starring messages feature does not fully solve the people problem, as it creates a priority, however does not define that priority closely enough.

And here is where I faced a crossroads, which would eventually lead me to my final solution. I needed to best accommodate for two main points as described by the people problem. Users need to stay on top of unanswered messages, while also organizing the most important people to the user. Thus, my final solution combines two of my smaller solutions with snoozing notifications and creating groups. A reminder system with the snooze element will prompt users to be stay on top of messages, and a group categorization system will allow users to create groups of those they value the most, while also showing the user why they are important. These elements can also tie into each other, as snooze periods can be customized for the group that the messenger is in, creating a fuller picture in integrating response times with importance of the contact.

DESIGNING: MED-FIDELITY

Entry Point

I chose iteration B, as it did the best job in considering the trade-offs between visibility, not consuming extra space, and having the clearest user flow. Iteration A was very visible, iteration C centralized actions while saving space, yet I decided the spacial possibilities of iteration B were most important for the entry point, considering the significance of visual reminders.

Adding a New Group

Iteration A simplifies the process of adding a new group by keeping it in the same space contextually, while iteration C visually shows contacts to be added. However, I decided this was less important as users normally will create groups definitively and with members already in mind. And so I chose iteration C because it had the most straightforward flow, while being flexible spacially.

Homepage Group Layout

For the homepage, the most important points were creating hierarchy, and keeping message visibility for prioritization. Iteration C appeals to both points, with being able to display an immediate hierarchy unlike iteration A, and keeping messages as visible as possible as opposed to iteration B.

USER TESTING

Now that I have decided on the best flows and design decisions, I created high-fidelity flows and prototypes to continue with user testing, to find out how real users interact with my feature.

New Entry Point

While using a pull-down to add a group saves space, users were initially confused as to how to use this feature as there are no indications of a pulling motion on the homepage. To remedy this, while also saving the same amount of space, I chose to change the entry point to a small button next to the new message button.

Simpler Way to Add Group Members

Users were looking for a simpler way of adding members to groups, as initially it was either through editing a group and searching for the contact, or going to a contact’s profile. And so I created an easy way for users to add users to a group straight from the homepage with minimal steps involved.

Hierarchy Rearrangement

Once groups are created, users also wanted a way to rearrange the hierarchy of groups as groups can fluctuate, and increase or decrease in importance. Thus, I created a feature where users can drag and drop groups to rearrange them on the page.

TAKEAWAY REFLECTION

iMessage is integral in so many people’s lives, no matter language, country, or age, it’s used to connect people in our ever-changing world. I’ve put in my own two cents, and I can’t wait to see what iMessage has in store for us in the future.

Lessons

This was my first case study, and I have learned so much about the design process throughout these weeks. I had no idea how intentional design must be, with research, interviews, iterations, and testing, all going into showing how each and every element is created deliberately, and carefully.

The Future

With more time, I would’ve liked to explore how the already existing pin feature could integrate with my own, whether it be in how the two features both take space in the homepage, or designing the features to coincide, including individual pins in groups. Overall, I am excited to continue learning, and see what my future holds in Product Design!

‍This case study was made for Cornell’s course Introduction to Digital Product Design. I am in no way affiliated with Apple.

iMessage Groups

Overview

Project Type

Role

Timeline

THE FINAL PROTOTYPE

MY DESIGN PROCESS