How Baidu Revamped Its Emoji Panel: Design Insights & Data‑Driven Results

Emoji Panel Redesign Background

In Baidu App's comment scene, hundreds of thousands of emoji‑filled comments are posted daily, making emojis crucial for interaction atmosphere. The Emoji 2.0 upgrade increased the set from 77 to over 180, limiting the original horizontal swipe pagination.

Design Goals

Three core objectives: increase emoji usage rate, improve interaction smoothness, and enhance operational capability, illustrated by the goal diagram.

Problem Analysis of Horizontal Swipe Panel

Issues identified: low screen efficiency due to tab occupying a quarter of space, slow swipe pagination across many pages, panel height lower than keyboard causing jump, and weak operational positioning for holiday‑specific emojis.

Design Process

The team applied rigorous research at design, pre‑launch, and post‑launch stages, using Harris chart comparison, qualitative user testing, and quantitative validation to ensure the solution’s effectiveness.

Pre‑Design Evaluation

Three panel concepts (horizontal swipe, vertical scroll, combined) were generated and assessed against seven metrics (first‑screen efficiency, browsing ease, operational match, second‑screen exposure, per‑screen count, locating difficulty, extensibility). Scoring used a –2 to +2 scale, revealing the vertical‑scroll type as superior.

Design Solution

Key points: align panel height with keyboard, adopt vertical scroll to boost display count by 35‑105%, add a row of frequently used emojis, provide tactile and auditory feedback, and keep extensibility for future categories.

Pre‑Launch Qualitative Testing

User preference favored the vertical‑scroll panel; reasons included convenience, smoothness, easier search, and richer content. A search‑task test showed faster retrieval in the first six rows for the vertical design.

Post‑Launch Quantitative Validation

Metrics showed increased PV/UV ratios for comments containing emojis and higher panel conversion rates, confirming that the redesign raised emoji usage and improved interaction atmosphere.

Behavior Analysis of Vertical Panel

GSM model was used to track user actions; analysis highlighted usage patterns and informed further optimization suggestions.

Takeaways

Thorough early research ensures reasonable design, qualitative testing offers low‑cost user insights, and quantitative data provides objective validation, though interpretation requires careful study.