The new Whatsapp

5 min readAug 4, 2016

If there was one single symbol that could truly represent the concept of communication among humans, I’d use it!

WhatsApp is the #1 service when it comes to communication among people. This medium is used for any kind of conversations, from those that carries emotions, to those that spread ideas or that inspire. All that in real time!

To be fair, there are a bunch of services that serve the same purpose, but WhatsApp has managed to enter our daily routine, kicking out SMSs (for those Gen-xers and Gen-yers that can still remember what an SMS is).

The project on Behance:
www.behance.net/gallery/38386561/The-new-WhatsApp

From the phone to the W

Since 2009 WhatsApp has helped millions of people to connect, billions of messages shared, and all that from a phone screen.

As for now, the logo is a white phone in a green, white bordered, speech bubble. It represents a messaging service thought for the phone, the actual physical tool thanks to which this new way of communication can be used.

But — yes there is always a but — , WhatsApp has now changed, and I do believe that it will again in the future.

What does WhatsApp offer today? What is its personality?

A service multiuse:

You can message someone you know (Conversation with someone of whom the phone number is in your contacts list).
You can message a group of people you know (Conversation with two or more people of whom the phone number is in your contacts list ).

Future possibile features:

Messaging with someone we don’t know (Conversation with two or more people of whom the phone number is NOT in your contacts list but that are part of our #Channel or a #Channel we are part of).
Personal use (Following interesting #Channels ).

I wanted to imagine a new brand of simplicity with a central user conversations. The inspiration of the circle as the symbol of connection, people, conversations, simplicity, channels, groups and networks.
You have to think about WhatsApp such a new service, where new things happen, and not only as a messaging service.

Facebook family

WhatsApp has been acquired by Facebook and has therefore now started to be part of a big family. I started thinking about how cool it could be if the branding identity of all the members of the family was actually similar; as if there was a trace of the same DNA in each and every member, just like in most of the families.

A drastic revolution would definitely be something not easy to digest for the users. I therefore decided to keep the same green and some visual characteristics.

The gradient I used, the new icons and a new UI for the iOS are designed to look way more alike others Facebook features.

What came out is the new WhatsApp Messenger, or just WhatsApp if you prefer :)

In favourite profile page appears Status+

The new iOS app

I designed this new UI for the iOS app so that to give more importance to the conversations. I introduced the @Mention feature that can be used to tag users in group conversations, making it easier to understand to whom we are talking. Also, I thought that #Channels could be very cool in WhatsApp. #Channels are open group conversations that anyone could join just thanks to mini-links or hashtags.

@Mentions

In huge group conversations is really tough to understand who’s talking with who.

I do have a big family myself — yes, very Italian cliche indeed — and when we message on WhatsApp it just gets messy. That is exactly where the idea of the @Mention comes from.

#Channels

Being able to have conversations with people we don’t know, with whom we just share a common interest is something that have always thrilled me. That is why, in my new WhatsApp I introduced the #Channels.
We could be able to follow the #Channels on topics we care about, being able to talk with very random people from all over the world and being constantly up to date on news and topics.

There would be the possibility to see only what the admin of the #Channel writes, deactivate notifications and decide whether to allow or not allow comments from people in the #Channel.

WhatsApp could also suggest interesting #Channels based on your interests.

The possible fusion

I imagined that the two messaging app that Facebook owns (WhatsApp and Messenger) could get unified at some point in the future. I don’t know if that will ever happen, but I wanted to find some possible common points for a progressive fusion of the two brand identity.