DINGTALK IM · MESSAGING PLATFORM
DingTalk Instant Messaging
Designing the messaging systems behind ~100M DAU — 5 years, 4 platform initiatives, 8 design patents.
DESIGN OWNER, IM PLATFORM
2018 — 2022
PROBLEM
A messaging platform serving ~100M DAU faced compounding structural debt — fragmented card components across 1.1M+ enterprise apps, forwarding flows under-maintained despite being the #1 most-clicked operation, and group chat noise drowning out signal.
SOLUTION
Four parallel platform initiatives — a standardised Interactive Card Component System (3 types, 15+ components, 2,000+ APIs), group chat noise reduction, forwarding flow rebuild, and same-type message aggregation — anchored by shared design language and patent-grade interaction patterns.
IMPACT
Week-1 adoption 10× on same-type aggregation, group DAU 4×, 8 design patents filed (2018–2023), and the Interactive Card system became the messaging layer behind 1.1M+ enterprise applications.
RESEARCH & DISCOVERY — Mapping enterprise messaging friction across 1:1, group, and broadcast surfaces.
DESIGN SCOPE — Reshaping chat, threads, broadcasts, and bots as one coherent messaging system.
FORWARDING FLOW — Re-architecting the most-clicked message action into a closed-loop, proactively governed flow.
KEY SCREENS — Cross-type message preview during forwarding, reducing mis-forwarding across rich text, images, and cards.
ONE-TAP FORWARDING — A proactive interaction that removes two manual steps, with @mentions and emoji support inline.
✦ OUTCOMES
✦
10X
WEEK-1 ADOPTION · SAME-TYPE AGGREGATION
✦
4X
GROUP DAU GROWTH
✦
8
DESIGN PATENTS · 2018–2023