Message Reactions

A platform that only spoke plain text

The Roblox messaging platform lets users talk to friends and coordinate co-playing events. It hadn’t been updated in years, which made it increasingly inadequate for users’ growing needs for self-expression, and left it failing to reflect the newer Roblox avatar features.

That was the gap. Avatars on Roblox give users full self-expression — and none of that richness reached the messaging platform, which still only supported plain text.

There was a shape to the solution before there was a solution. Because the messaging team hadn’t shipped in a long time, the PM wanted something that could be developed and released quickly, to start gathering user data: a 12-week sprint from design to release. After discussing it with the product manager and the engineering manager, we agreed that building a reaction feature for the MVP would be the best approach to enhance self-expression.

Lightweight or robust

To get a deeper understanding of what a reaction feature actually involves, I first examined the reaction features already on the market.

They divide into two categories. Lightweight reaction features let users send a single emoji to convey a simple message. Robust ones let users customize emojis and support far more complex use cases.

Choosing lightweight

I presented the lightweight and robust findings back to the product team. Given the time constraints and the scope of the messaging feature, the product manager and I decided to design the Roblox reaction feature as the lightweight option.

Two problems with using system emojis

To validate that the idea was feasible, I spoke with designers, PMs and researchers across the company. Those conversations surfaced the two biggest constraints I was facing — and both of them were about the emojis themselves.

The first was safety. Many Roblox users are minors, and some system emojis — 🍑, 🍆 — carry sexual or contextual connotations that are unsuitable for them.

The second was technical. From discussions with engineers, I learned that the current front-end system has a minimal emoji library, so if users send emojis from their keyboards that aren’t supported, they get an error message.

An emoji library for the design system

While speaking with designers from various teams, I learned that the Design System team had long wanted to create a set of custom Roblox emojis, but had never had a compelling reason or the resources to pursue it. My two constraints were that reason.

A custom set answered both at once — it sidesteps the unsuitable system emojis, and it stays inside what the front end can actually render. So I set out to design the emoji concepts, and ended up with 16 of them, built in collaboration with the Design System team.

The set outlasted the feature that prompted it. What started as a fix for my own two constraints became a standing emoji library for Roblox — the piece of this project that reached furthest beyond message reactions.

Reaction pills and content selection

Alongside the emojis, I went through numerous iterations on how to display the reaction pills and how content selection should work. Throughout, I shared the designs regularly with the product manager and the engineers, and those conversations drove the iterations.

By balancing the feedback from the product team, I finalized the design around the positioning of the reaction pill and the content display.

A north star for avatar-driven communication

The MVP was only ever half the brief — the other half was establishing a north star vision for avatar-driven communication on Roblox.

With the remaining time in my internship I expanded the scope of the reaction feature, and collaborated with designers from five teams to develop and prototype how Roblox emojis and reactions could work across other product surfaces.

The end-to-end Message Reaction feature shipped to 215 million monthly active users — a complete product involving the design spec and collaboration with product partners throughout.

The 16 Roblox emojis established an emoji library with the Design System team. And alongside the PM, I defined a long-term project roadmap for revamping the legacy messaging features, through workshops, future UI design and quantitative user data.

215M

Monthly active users

16

Roblox emojis designed

12 wks

Design to release