Spatial's redesigned mobile chat fitting into the in-world HUD.

Spatial’s Mobile Chat

I redesigned Spatial’s mobile multiplayer chat so players can engage with the world and the community at the same time, without the chat taking over the screen.

Aug 2024

fineprint →

Context: Spatial was pivoting to a SaaS creator tool, letting users build virtual worlds and games hosted on Spatial’s servers. Player community and engagement were a key pillar in upselling creator subscriptions.
Problem: Mobile players barely engaged with multiplayer chat compared to desktop users. The chat defaulted to a full screen, detaching world engagement from player interaction.

Spatial mobile interface

Question: How might we make our mobile chat experience more accessible, allowing users to engage with the world and community simultaneously?
Solution: Adopt a smaller chat interface, notification system, and overall messaging experience that fit into Spatial’s existing mobile HUD.

Final Design

Full user flow

Collapsed HUD user flow

Deleting chat

Edge Cases

Full-screen mode

Message preview toggle

Learnings

This project sharpened a few convictions for me. Design is at its best when it stays flexible, and a willingness to embrace change is what pushes the user experience forward. It’s also a business: even a minor change to a feature or design can be the difference of thousands of dollars. My mentor, Jimmy, taught me to design in a way that excites the stakeholders and engineers who have to build it, which is why I went the extra mile to animate my work in After Effects. And with no clear direction handed to me, I learned to lead with curiosity, experimenting with new approaches and exploring creative solutions to real user problems.