Accord
Enhancing student collaboration on Discord.
Project Type : Concpet
My Role : UI/UX Design
Duration : 3 weeks
The Problem
Students juggle emails, messaging apps, and cloud docs to stay on track, but switching between platforms leads to lost info and miscommunication. Despite digital solutions, there's no single, student-friendly tool for seamless collaboration in their daily environment.
The Opportunity
Integrating structured collaboration features into a widely adopted platform to streamline teamwork in a familiar and engaging environment.
Instead of forcing students to juggle between different apps, why not enhance a platform they already love? Discord has become the go-to space for student communities, gaming, and casual discussions. What if it also became the ultimate tool for academic collaboration?
The Solution
Research
Research Goal
Identify how students collaborate, the challenges they encounter, and what they need for a more effective solution.
Understanding user and market landscape
We interviewed 5 Students aged between 18- 25 to understand there individual and group working habits, challenges and pain points.
We wanted to learn:
What issues students commonly encounter while working in group?
How do you track they progress of tasks assigned to yourself and others in a group setting?
How do you stay motivated when working with others?
Do they use any platform or app to track their tasks
View in depth Insights Here
Key Insights:
4/5 Students mentioned miscommunication and lack of updates are common challenges in teamwork.
5/5 Students needs clear framework, parameters and set target while working on a task
5/5 Students want simplified tools, that help them stay on track and motivated.
Why Discord ?
During our user interviews, we explored students' preferred platforms for collaboration and communication. The results indicate a strong preference for Discord, which significantly outperformed other apps like Slack, Notion, Miro, Canvas, and Teams. This trend highlights Discord’s popularity among students for its ease of communication and collaborative features."
Key Insights:
4/5 Students mentioned they like to use custom emotes it allows them to express
3/5 Students like discord for customization and no time limit for VC.
4/5 Students found discord helps in community building
Bonus Insights:
“ That’s why I like using discord (a lot) for doing work, like the purpose of discord is for community building ”
Validating the solution
To ensure our solution addressed real user needs, we conducted a competitive matrix analysis and feature inventory audit. These methodologies revealed critical gaps in existing tools and provided actionable insights that directly shaped the design of our student-centric collaboration features.
Competitive Matrix
To understand how Discord compares in the productivity market, we analyzed relevant tools that support communication and collaboration. This matrix highlights how different platforms balance individual vs. group use and general vs. specialized functionality.
Feature Inventory
Key Insights:
User Persona
Discord is a versatile, group-focused communication tool, placing it at the top-right of the matrix for “Groups/Teams” and “General” functionality. Its broad appeal sets it apart from more specialized competitors.
Strength
Discord lacks structured collaboration tools, overwhelming channels, and project-specific features like task management, Dashboards and assignment tracking, unlike Notion or Canvas.
Opportunity
Accord, a student-focused integration, could introduce dedicated spaces for group projects, task tracking, and progress visualization, all within Discord’s familiar and engaging environment, helping expand its user base to a wider audience.
Weakness
We wrapped our research and learnings into persona to keep our problem statement user centric.
Meet Becky the Brainiac
Becky’s main frustration
“ Becky struggles to track multiple tasks across different tools and limited collaboration options leading to miscommunication and making teamwork challenging due to limited collaboration features.“
How might we help Becky with..
Ideating and drawing it out
Mid-fidelity screen
Task tracking more engaging and motivating
Enhance team collaboration and communication
Playful and interactive environment to improve teamwork an transparency
Centralized dashboard to overview all the tasks
After analyzing Discord’s interface, we used the MoSCoW prioritization method to identify key features and explored the best ways to integrate them while maintaining alignment with Discord’s design principles.
These wireframes focused on 3 major features
Centralized Dashboard
Progress tracking
Communication and collaboration
Low -Fi Screens
Total screen - 23
Usability Round 1 - Mid-Fi
To enhance our product's user experience, we conducted two rounds of usability testing—one with mid-fidelity and another with high-fidelity prototypes. During the testing, participants were asked to complete four core tasks critical to the product's
These tasks allowed us to identify usability pain points, measure task efficiency, and understand user satisfaction
Key Takeaways
What didn’t work ?
New users unfamiliar with Discord found the interface challenging to navigate. Since we are targeting a wider audience, improving UI elements for better clarity and ease of use is essential. A minimalist and intuitive design, combined with simple language, will ensure seamless navigation and a familiar experience for all users.
What work well ?
Users appreciated the dashboard feature, as it provided a clear view of their tasks and project progress. The gamified project tracking was especially well received, as it kept them motivated and fostered a sense of teamwork. Additionally, users valued the integrated whiteboarding and virtual environment, as it eliminated the need for third-party collaboration apps, streamlining their workflow.
Hi-Fidelity Screens
After creating the branding for ‘LightHouse’, I then designed high fidelity frames and prototyped to test the app and get user feedback.
View full screen flow here
Usability Round 2 - Hi-Fi
Key Takeaway:
After implementing changes based on user feedback from round 1
Most tasks were completed successfully, indicating that users found the interface intuitive and easy to navigate.
The presence of indirect paths (yellow indicators) across multiple tasks suggests that while users completed their tasks, some had to take extra steps, possibly due to unclear UI elements or lack of guidance.
Prototype
Key Feature Integrated
All in one dashboard
Gamified management tool
Lo-fi study buddy
If Discord asked, here’s what we would say….
Discord - Why should we integrate Accord ?
Team Accord - Discord has the opportunity to deepen engagement and retention among students by evolving into more than just a chat platform. Accord transforms Discord into a collaborative productivity hub, bridging the gap between social interaction and academic co-working.
By integrating classic productivity tools with Discord’s engaging, community-driven spirit, Accord helps students organize, collaborate, and grow their learning communities—all within Discord
Discord - What will be your next steps?
Team Accord - We will continue testing the product with users to evaluate the data make iterations on final product.