One of the primary selling points of our chat software was the commitment to delivering a seamless community experience combined with advanced AI chat moderation.

To fulfill this promise, our approach was rooted in simplicity and minimalism within the scope of work and feature set. We recognized that the volume of messages requiring moderation would remain beyond the control of the viewers. Therefore, for this user group, we aimed to provide a minimal feature set.

In contrast, our focus was on fans, moderators, and administrators who played crucial roles in maintaining the chat environment. This interconnected ecosystem allowed fans to seamlessly transition into the roles of moderators or even administrators, emphasizing a flexible and scalable approach that empowered users to actively participate in the moderation process.

As a fan, I wish to report a user that I find problematic, ensuring a more enjoyable chatroom experience for all users.

As a moderator, I aim to promptly address individual users to maintain a secure chat room environment for both fans and the business.

As an Admin, I seek the capability to manage users efficiently while also having the flexibility to swiftly grant or withdraw user privileges, ensuring effective chat moderation for both fans and the business.

The chat widget operates as a drop-in solution, seamlessly integrated into a client's existing webpage. It's important to note that the chat software doesn't dictate how user profiles are created or authenticated; these aspects remain within the client's purview. Instead, the chat widget serves as the dynamic hub where fans gather to engage with each other and the event.

It provides a flexible and tailored chat room experience, allowing fans to interact in a manner that suits the client's needs and the specific event or community they wish to cultivate. 

Additionally, the User Management dashboard and User Profile Pages within the chat widget offer valuable customization options, enabling clients to align the chat experience with their branding, functionality, and user preferences. This versatility ensures that the chat widget seamlessly integrates with the client's website, enhancing fan engagement while maintaining control over user management and authentication processes.

The journey of designing our chat software involved several iterative phases, with a central challenge focusing on the optimal design of the message box itself. Key considerations included striking the right balance between size, font density, and word/symbol count limits to create a visually appealing and functionally efficient chat interface.

Multiple rounds of experimentation were conducted to fine-tune the chat box settings, ensuring that it would seamlessly integrate with the user experience.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of this design process was the opportunity to tailor the chat experience to the unique demands of the sports industry and even specific teams. This creative aspect allowed us to delve into selecting diverse fonts, colors, and imagery that align with each brand's identity, effectively showcasing the capabilities of automation to create a customized and visually distinctive chat experience.

These design iterations highlight my dedication to optimizing both the visual and functional aspects of the chat software while celebrating the creative freedom to cater to the specific needs and aesthetics of different sports teams and brands.

Our design journey tackled two pivotal challenges: creating a robust moderation system and developing user management functionalities tailored to the dynamic sports industry.

Balancing ease of use, safety, and enjoyment, we implemented AI-based message flagging while grappling with user-reported content, leading to meticulous decisions on message storage and moderation actions.

Additionally, our quest for simplicity and customization culminated in the creation of the User Management Dashboard, featuring innovative 'Appearance Effects' like the 'Sheep' effect, allowing clients to infuse their chat environment with team or industry spirit.

The widget was built by a remote engineer. I was given access to the testing environment to play with the build and actually feel and see the product development.
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I was able not to be involved with engineering team and work bugs out on flows as well as make UI improvements by creating tasks and tickets in Trello. 

At around half way through the build, a QA engineer joined the team and I had to walk her through every single flow and design detail in the design comparing it to the build, deciding what needed additional adjustments and would could be improved in V2 when the time comes. 

In setting up the style sheets for the widget, my primary objective was to ensure flexibility and ease of customization for our customers. Recognizing the power of CSS in translating design aesthetics, I prioritized creating a framework that could easily adapt to a diverse range of visual preferences.

Anticipating future needs, such as offering a dashboard for customers to upload their own assets, colors, fonts, imagery, and custom effects, I laid the groundwork for a flexible codebase capable of supporting such requirements.To demonstrate the potential of CSS styles in transforming the visual experience, I developed a Basic version of the widget, aptly named 'Vanilla', utilizing a popular font choice.

This version served as a foundation to showcase the versatility of CSS styles in altering the look and feel of the product. Examples were curated for various themes, including those inspired by prominent entities such as Arsenal FC, Formula 1, and the SHIFT interface, illustrating how CSS customization can tailor the widget to specific brand identities and industry aesthetics.