Adding a feature
Overview
Reddit is a social news and discussion platform made up of thousands of user-created communities called subreddits, each dedicated to specific interests or topics. Users share posts, comment, and vote content up or down to determine visibility.
As a personal project, I set out to evaluate Reddit’s user experience looking at how different types of users engage with the platform, the challenges they run into, and where things could be improved. My goal was to understand the gaps between what users want and what the platform prioritizes, and to find ways to make those goals align better.
Role: UX designer
Tools: Figma, Figjam
Skills: Research, Interaction design, Prototyping, Usability testing
2023-2024
Problem
Moderation frustrations drive negative sentiment
Users frequently complain about heavy-handed moderation or perceived censorship, which impacts their trust and freedom to engage in discussions.
Low discoverability of existing Features
Users express frustration over issues that Reddit has already addressed.
Solution
Process
To identify key user pain points, I conducted a competitive analysis followed by 14 user interviews.
While the findings were initially broad, a few themes emerged.
To determine whether these behaviors were isolated or more widespread, I conducted a survey to validate and quantify these insights across a wider user base.
Data confirmed that:
Over 60% of users either rely solely on Google or use it equally with Reddit search, reinforcing the preference for Google in content discovery.
37% of users were not aware of reddit features. While 15.6% found features that addressed their frustrations that they only learned about through my survey.
25% of users expressed frustration with both over and under moderation.
User goals
Feel in control of their experience on Reddit
Find relevant content on Reddit
Have a positive experience and reduce overwhelm
Get a more personalized experience
Business goals
Generate Revenue
Increase user engagement
Differentiate reddit from increasing competition
Gain trust of users
Three user groups emerged
Majority of participants are passive users of Reddit (lurkers)
This stood out as a great opportunity for conversion.
Since there were multiple other issues identified, I focused on determining which would create the most meaningful impact within the project scope.
Search functionality emerged as top priority. However, improving search relied heavily on backend and algorithmic changes beyond the scope of a design-focused project.
Given these limitations, I decided to move forward with the next most actionable and impactful area, feature awareness. It offered clear opportunities for improving user experience through design solutions.
I created user flows for different feature awareness scenarios to understand how users discover and interact with existing tools on Reddit.
While I was building my low-fidelity wireframes for usability testing, Reddit unexpectedly released an update focused on feature awareness.
The update introduced multiple tooltip pop-ups, and the interface looked visually consistent which was exciting to see. tooltips that reminded users that reddit has live chats, or that users can now share reddit content to other platforms or to turn on notifications for specific posts that they liked.
However, after using it, I noticed how intrusive the tooltips felt. They appeared too frequently, which made the experience more annoying than helpful. If I were designing it, I’d refine the timing and frequency and trigger tooltips based on specific user actions instead of showing them at random.
Since Reddit had already introduced this feature, it addressed the discoverability problem I had initially set out to solve.
This prompted me to revisit my research data and pivot my focus towards another user pain, moderation issues.
Since most of my user base were lurkers, I saw an opportunity to make that first step toward participation feel easier.
Current rule check process
However, after using it, I noticed how intrusive the tooltips felt. They appeared too frequently, which made the experience more annoying than helpful. If I were designing it, I’d refine the timing and frequency and trigger tooltips based on specific user actions instead of showing them at random.
Since Reddit had already introduced this feature, it addressed the discoverability problem I had initially set out to solve.
While I was still exploring the best way to execute the Rule Check feature for comments without adding friction,
I discovered that Reddit already has a real-time rule check feature for when creating a post, but only within certain communities.
Because this feature exists inconsistently (or at the discretion of moderators) across the platform, it’s easy for users to overlook.
Usability test
My usability test participants were lurkers to moderate Reddit users who primarily accessed the platform through their phones.
During testing, one participant responded positively to the Rule Check feature but mentioned that they already have this feature. That feedback made me realize that Reddit already offers a real time rule check on certain devices, specifically iOS.
I too missed this during the discovery phase since I was studying the app on an Android device, where the feature was not available.
Further testing confirmed this pattern: participants using iPhones had access to the feature, while Android users did not.
ios existing design (dark mode)
Iterated design on final design before discovering existing feature on ios.
Despite this, the majority of participants found the concept valuable. Android users appreciated getting a heads-up about potential rule violations, along with suggestions for how to fix them when the rules were complex.
This discovery revealed an important inconsistency across platforms and reinforced the opportunity to extend this functionality to all devices, ensuring a more consistent and supportive commenting experience for every user.
Next steps
I would focus on achieving platform parity to ensure a consistent experience across iOS and Android. I would also explore ways to make feature visibility more intuitive.
Lastly, I would explore contextual prompts that respond to user actions, encouraging smoother participation and easing lurkers into more active engagement.
Reflection
Discovering twice that Reddit already had a version of my proposed feature turned out to be a valuable insight into feature discoverability. It showed me that even well-designed tools can go unnoticed if they are inconsistently implemented or not surfaced at the right time in the user journey.
This shifted my understanding of design impact that it’s not always about creating something new, but ensuring that existing features are visible, accessible, and meaningful to users.
By identifying this visibility gap, I learned how critical discoverability is to user experience, and how thoughtful timing and context can transform awareness into engagement.
