It became clear that users would like to get notifications of e-mails in the same side bar as the other notifications, but it was important that when users opened an e-mail that they would immediately know that it was an e-mail and not a social channel message. Also there was the problem that users could currently not make a message go from read to unread, for this we needed a quick solution.

To let users know that it was an e-mail and not a social channel message, we placed a simple e-mail icon inside of the left side bar. When users open the e-mail they first have to click the ''assign to me'' button, and to make the design feel more like an e-mail, instead of a social channel message, the user sees an e-mail reply template with their own e-mail signature. All the user has to do is type a message and click send.

After some user research it became clear that, to make an e-mail go from read to unread, or the other way around, you would normally get a context menu after clicking the right mouse button. So I've made a context menu with this option, and after some research I've added several more options to increase the usability of the platform overall.

This was one of the bigger projects I've worked on during my internship where I've learned alot about User Experience Design and the importance of good usability. But mostly I came to the discovery that, for a logical and good working usability, you don't have to invent the wheel again. People already understand a lot through other (big) interfaces. That doesn't mean that the design has to be exactly the same but, to get a certain action in designing an interface, it is okay to be inspired by other interfaces designs.