Enhancing Focus and Communication on Slack Through Smarter Notifications
Slack is one of the most widely adopted collaboration tools for modern teams. Its flexibility across channels, threads, and integrations makes it a powerful hub for communication—especially in fast-paced, remote, and cross-functional environments. But as usage scales, so does the noise.
MY ROLE
UX/UI Designer
TEAM
2 Designers
TOOLS
Figma
DURATION
5 Weeks
Figjam
Google Suite
INTRODUCTION
Understanding the Context
Slack plays a critical role in team communication in most companies nowadays, but its constant stream of messages and alerts can quickly overwhelm users. As teams scale, the volume of notifications makes it challenging to focus, prioritize, and stay aligned.
This project rethinks Slack’s notification experience, aiming to reduce noise, surface what matters, and support focused work in high-volume environments.
PROBLEM
Misaligned Notifications Disrupt Focus and Clarity
Slack is built for speed, but in high-volume environments, speed without structure becomes noise. As channels multiply and conversations run in parallel, important updates are easily lost, and not all messages carry equal weight.
The current notification system treats everything as equally urgent, forcing users to manually parse relevance, context, and priority. Without intelligent filtering or support for focus-driven workflows, users experience decision fatigue, missed messages, and fragmented attention throughout the day.
This breakdown isn’t just about alerts—it’s about cognitive load, team alignment, and the lack of adaptive systems that scale with growing complexity.
FRAMING THE CHALLENGE
Why This Problem Mattered
Through ongoing use and behavioral analysis, it became clear that Slack’s constant stream of messages, threads, and alerts was introducing unnecessary friction into daily workflows. Instead of supporting productivity, it often contributed to cognitive overload, requiring users to work harder just to stay focused and informed.
This wasn’t just a usability flaw; it was a systemic opportunity to rethink how attention is managed in high-volume digital environments. By improving the notification experience, we aimed to reduce noise, support faster prioritization, and create a more intentional communication flow that scales with team complexity.
OPPORTUNITY
Why This Change Makes a Difference
Slack drives team communication, but when everything feels urgent, nothing truly stands out. High message volume, scattered updates, and generic alerts dilute focus and stall momentum.
This challenge presents a high-impact opportunity: reimagine notifications as a strategic tool, not just a system output. By leveraging AI to intelligently prioritize alerts based on user behavior, context, and relevance, we can transform Slack from a source of noise into a driver of clarity. The result? Less mental clutter, faster decisions, and a communication flow that works for users—not against them.
Research
Overuse of Group Chats
Inefficient Notification Management
Declining Product Usability
Poor Communication Experience
Poor Navigation Hierarchy
Inconsistent Conversation Sorting
Cluttered Interface and Disorganized Messaging
INTERVIEW INSIGHTS
What Challenges Are Slack Users Facing?
We spoke with over six Slack users, ranging from casual contributors to daily power users—to better understand how they navigate communication, notifications, and workflows.
Their experiences revealed recurring friction points: information overload, unclear priorities, and difficulty staying focused in fast-moving channels.
These conversations highlighted clear opportunities to reduce noise, support smarter prioritization, and make Slack feel more managable for everyday work.
"Struggles to locate specific names or message titles in long, fast-moving conversation threads."
"Communication is generally okay, but receiving too many messages can be overwhelming."
"Other platforms feel simpler, but Slack becomes powerful once you learn how to use it, especially with high activity."
"Wanted notifications for only high-priority updates but found no built-in way to filter them without manual effort."
"Lacks a way to prioritize channels by relevance, making it easy to overlook high-priority updates."
"Sometimes miss important messages because there is no feature to highlight specific channels."
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PERSONA
User Perspectives
We created two core personas, a junior and a senior user, based on interview insights. Each represented different goals, habits, and pain points within Slack. These perspectives guided our design decisions and ensured solutions addressed both everyday challenges and high-level workflow needs.
SENIOR USER
Sarah
“It’s hard to keep up when everything feels urgent—I need a better way to stay focused and keep work separate from life.”
Focus Points
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Hopes for a quicker, more intuitive way to switch between channels and find key information during busy moments.
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Needs a smarter notification system to surface high-priority updates in real time, allowing her to focus without being pulled in multiple directions.
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Looks for a clearer way to manage message overload and avoid missing key details buried in long threads and fast-moving conversations.
Pressure Points
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Struggles to navigate quickly between channels and threads, making it hard to access important files and messages during high-volume conversations.
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Lacks an efficient way to prioritize critical notifications, leading to distractions and difficulty staying focused on urgent tasks.
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Finds it challenging to maintain work-life balance due to constant notifications and difficulty disconnecting from work.
JUNIOR USER
Jake
"I’m still new, so I need easy tools to manage files, keep up with messages, and stay organized without getting stressed."
Focus Points
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Looking for a simple way to organize and find shared files without getting lost in threads or channels.
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Wants more control over notifications to reduce overwhelm and focus on what’s most important.
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Needs an easier way to keep track of conversations across channels to avoid missing messages and reply faster.
Pressure Points
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Has trouble finding and organizing shared files, often feeling confused by where things are stored.
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Feels overwhelmed by too many notifications and messages, making it hard to keep up with important updates.
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Struggles to manage multiple channels at once, sometimes leading to delays in responding or losing track of conversations.
JOURNEY MAP
Uncovering key moments and opportunities across the experience
With a clear understanding of our target users and their challenges, we mapped out their journey, capturing their thoughts, actions, and emotions from the moment they open Slack to the point they complete a task. This helped us identify friction points and highlight where strategic UX improvements could deliver the most impact.
Competitive Analysis
Analyzing Market & Competitions
Before outlining proposed solutions, I conducted a comparative analysis focused on identifying the strengths and weaknesses of Slack’s competitors. While Slack has relatively few direct competitors, it overlaps with several indirect platforms that offer similar features for team communication and collaboration. By reviewing and comparing their pros and cons, I gained insight into gaps in the current experience and surfaced opportunities to enhance usability, workflow efficiency, and user satisfaction within Slack.
Microsoft Teams
Pros
-
Strong Microsoft 365 integration
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Structured layout with a sidebar and tab system
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Includes built-in bots and AI support
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Offers robust file integration (OneDrive, SharePoint)
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Wide keyboard shortcut options and accessibility features
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Consistent experience across desktop and mobile
Cons
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Interface can feel cluttered for new users
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Limited customization for status messages and themes
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Notification management can be difficult in busy workspaces
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Less flexible than Slack in some customization areas
Discord
Pros
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Organized voice/text channels with strong moderation tools
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Ability to pin messages within channels
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Advanced control over notifications (mute, disable, etc.)
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Integrates well with platforms like Twitch, YouTube, Spotify
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Great for community engagement and casual team use
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Consistent experience across platforms
Cons
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File upload limits unless upgraded to Nitro
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Less suited for professional task and project management
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Interface may feel too casual for business environments
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Lacks built-in workflow or automation tools
Trello
Pros
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Visual, card-based organization for projects and tasks
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Drag-and-drop simplicity
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Power-Ups for integrations (Slack, Google Drive, Jira, etc.)
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Users can star boards for easy access
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Highly customizable with backgrounds, labels, and covers
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Easy learning curve
Cons
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Not designed for channel-based communication
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Lacks threaded conversations and real-time messaging
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No built-in direct messaging
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More task-focused than conversation-focused
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Limited notification customization
Asana
Pros
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Clean task-based interface with visual project tracking
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Easy assignment of tasks with due dates and subtasks
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Supports multiple views: list, board, timeline, calendar
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Strong collaboration features: comments, followers, status updates
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Integrates well with Slack, Google Drive, Zoom, and more
Cons
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Not designed for real-time chat or threaded discussions
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Lacks built-in direct messaging or channel-based communication
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Notification settings are limited and less flexible than Slack
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May require paid plans for advanced automation and reporting
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Can feel overwhelming for new users unfamiliar with project management tools
IDEATION
Breaking down the HMW statements to ideate
To support our idea generation process, we refined our design requirements into clear, actionable statements.
These statements are intentionally broad to encourage diverse solutions while remaining focused enough to maintain direction.
How might we improve channel organization and task management in Slack to reduce confusion and enhance efficiency for users?
How might we design a notification system that prioritizes important messages and
minimizes distractions, allowing users to focus on critical tasks?
How might we guide users in tailoring their Slack experience without feeling overwhelmed?
SKETCH
Second Title
DESIGN
Second Title
