Work — Bao To
Every project by Bao To, a design engineer and studio artist in New York: AI-era product work, design systems, and full-stack builds, filterable by kind. Each entry opens a case study.
iMESSAGE POLLS CONCEPT
Designing Polls Feature for Apple's iOS iMessage App
This concept became reality!
Apple officially launched the iMessage Polls feature with iOS 26 in September 2025 (announced at WWDC June 2025) — nearly 2 years after this concept was designed in November 2023.
ROLE
Product Designer
DURATION
Nov 2023 (2 days)
TOOLS
Figma
SKILLS
UI/UX
Design System
Interaction Design
SUMMARY
The Concept
Wouldn't it be nice to have a voting feature integrated into iMessage to help groups make decisions faster?
WIREFRAMES
User Flow & Wireframes
The design process began with mapping out the complete user journey from accessing the poll feature to viewing results.
User Flow
Wireframes
KEY INSIGHTS
Design Principles
Access
I placed the Poll feature inside the tool menu that is triggered upon pressing the '+' icon in the group chat page. Afterwards, a list of options appear and replaces the keyboard area, similar to other tools.
Intuitive Editing
When a user wants to add another option into the poll, they can just press Enter on the keyboard, or press the empty option below the last choice.
Transparency
The blue text below the poll signals a link that when clicked directs the users to the results page with the votes of all participants, separated into different voting groups.
FINAL
Final Design
USER TESTING
Testing Results
Results
- - 20/20 users report that they are able to navigate through the prototype without any problem.
- - Some users recommend an option for participants to select multiple options before clicking a “submit” button to cast all the votes.
NEXT STEPS
- - Consider “Multiple Selection” feature
- - Consider “Un-vote” feature
- - Perform more User Research & Testing
TRY IT OUT
CONNECT WITH ME
Don't like my portfolio? Let me know at btt2118@columbia.edu