AKASHA World is a decentralised social network where users fully own and control their content. Unlike traditional platforms, it's composed of multiple independent apps — each one a micro-frontend — that together form a coherent ecosystem. I was Lead Product Designer across all of them, from day-to-day interaction design to the shared design system that held everything together.
Every app in AKASHA World was designed by me — not just the surface UI, but the flows, the information architecture, the interaction patterns, and the edge cases. Here's what each one does:
The home feed. Displays a chronological stream of Beams and Reflections from across a World. I designed the feed layout, beam composer, image/text block system, topic-based filtering, and the NSFW content toggle — balancing discoverability with user-controlled safety.
The publishing interface. Users create Beams (posts) using a block-based editor (text via Slate, images, DApps). I designed the block creation flow, the publishing process, and the content block extension API that allows third-party blocks to be added.
The response layer. Reflections are threaded replies to Beams; Reflects are replies to Reflections. I designed the threading model, the nested view, and the interaction patterns that distinguish Reflecting (considered response) from reacting.
Identity and presence. User profiles with their published Beams, following/followers, and decentralised identity indicators. I designed the profile pages, the follow system, and the Mini Profile widget that surfaces contextually throughout the platform.
The app marketplace. Users browse, install, activate, and deactivate apps and widgets — built by AKASHA or by the community. I designed the discovery experience, the extension card system, and the install/manage flows.
Community moderation. Users can flag content; moderators review flagged items and maintain a public Transparency Log. I designed the reporting flow, the moderator review interface, and the full Vibes Console — where users apply to become moderators and admins manage applications.
Cross-app search. I designed the search experience across Beams, Profiles, and Tags — with results that respect the decentralised data model and surface content from across a user's installed World.
User control centre. Theme (light/dark), NSFW preferences, connected accounts, and notification controls. I designed Settings as a low-friction, predictable space — the place where power users feel in control without overwhelming casual ones.
To prevent the ecosystem from fragmenting as apps evolved independently, I built the AKASHA World Design System on top of Shadcn UI — composable, unopinionated components that developers already trusted. The system covered tokens (colour, spacing, typography, motion), shared component patterns, and interaction specs. It's what allowed 8 different apps to look and feel like one product. More detail on the system itself is in the AKASHA UI case study →