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BC, CANADA
A 5-day design sprint reimagining Discord voice channels as customizable spaces where communities can express their unique identity and make voice calls feel more connected.
1st Place, SparkJam 2026
overview
In a 5-day design competition, we were challenged to bring a creation-centric feature to a non-creation-oriented experience. We focused on Discord voice channels, where communities had no way to express their identity, something we saw as key to making calls feel more connected.
the solution
Personalization is already core to Discord, from profiles to servers, but voice channels have stayed untouched. Spaces changes that with a persistent, shared canvas your group can adorn together and return to session after session. It's a creation-centric feature on a platform built for communication, giving communities a new way to express their identity.
Spaces turns voice channels from an empty void into a space that fits the moment.
research insights
Studies found that users describe Discord using physical analogies like "town square" and "cafe," reporting lasting friendships formed there, yet 20 of 30 of our own participants said voice calls still feel impersonal or disconnected.
18 of 30 participants use calls to hang out and keep each other company in the background, while 15 of 30 use them for studying or co-working, treating the call as a space to exist alongside rather than a conversation to focus on.
designing
I used Discord's existing branding to keep Spaces feeling like a native feature rather. To speed up prototyping, I started from a Discord UI library I found in Figma, then improved its components so they worked better for our specific screens and interactions.
final solution
We built Spaces into existing features, like the voice channel side panel, emojis, stickers, and GIFs, so it feels like a natural extension of the platform. It's designed to work across every kind of server, from casual friend groups to large communities.
I helped build the prototype's UI, components, and microinteractions to closely match Discord's look and feel. I also created our demo video, styled as a Discord-like ad to make the concept feel real. This was my first large motion design project and it earned a lot of great feedback and compliments, something I'm really proud of.
