Reactions
A two-day craft intervention on LinkedIn's highest-frequency interaction
Overview
Reactions are one of LinkedIn's highest-frequency interactions — millions of times a day, across every post in the feed. When the menu was being migrated to a new tech stack, I saw a low-effort, high-impact opportunity: tighten the craft before it shipped. This was a two-day side effort, not a dedicated workstream.
Approach
Working within the existing asset library, I refined the icon shapes for better visual balance and consistency, and improved the selection motion to feel more tactile and intentional.
Impact
The improvements shipped with the migration — a quiet craft win on one of LinkedIn’s most-used surfaces.
It also raised the team’s bar for craft. Motion polish at this level wasn’t routine at LinkedIn, and the project became a reference point in design all-hands — held up as an example of what including motion polish in your work can unlock. After it shipped, more designers started weaving motion thinking into their own projects. Craft compounds.
