Discord iOS Widget — Hannah Moore

Overview

Designing a widget that could have come from Discord's own team

Discord had over 150 million monthly active users and no iOS widget. This was a personal project, built after leaving Creativemass. I've used Discord for years and genuinely love the product. The goal wasn't just to design a widget; it was to design one that could plausibly have come from Discord's own team. That was the hardest constraint: believability.

Discord widget information architecture and feature research — Information architecture and feature research

Key decisions

Two decisions that shaped the design

Designing around where users already spend their time

Most Discord users don't browse — they return. They go back to the same DM thread, the same server, the same channel. Feature selection started there. The five features — account status, friends access, direct messages, server notifications, and search — map to those habitual entry points. Five also worked well within the space requirements across widget sizes, giving enough density without overcrowding the smallest formats.

Discord widget wireframes mapping features to user entry points — Wireframes — mapping features to the spaces users return to most

Building flexibility in from the start

Widgets need to work across three sizes, in dark and light mode, with different content priorities at each size. Rather than designing one layout and adapting it, I treated size and mode as variables from the start — designing a system flexible by default. Each format feels considered for its dimensions rather than squeezed.

Discord widget design exploration across sizes — Design exploration across all three widget sizes

Discord widget high-fidelity in dark and light mode — High-fidelity — dark and light mode

Outcome

Handover-ready, with room to grow

The final designs are annotated and templated; the variation system is straightforward for engineers to build on. If I were to revisit this now, I'd push the personality further. Discord has evolved with custom themes, profile banners, and more visual expression since I built this. There's room for a widget that's genuinely expressive, not just functional.