We're working on deviantART v999. So far, it's a lot of prototypes, concepts and color explorations that are waiting for clarity on some technologies coming out of R&D. 

A lot of you probably wonder where the hell our mobile apps are. I do. Quick answer: They're trapped under a bigger project. It's worth the wait, but we're far overdue on release. The biggest problem has been the Message Center, whose architecture, look and feel, etc. simply doesn't port over to Mobile & Tablets. For these, we need to streamline the incredibly powerful experience of deviantART's message center, so that it can be consumed on smaller screens without having to click lots of buttons.

Activity Feeds are supposed to be the obvious solution. But at deviantART, people love their Message Centers specifically because they aren't feeds. Each item from your +watch list, or Feedback area comes in as an item. Each item must be removed from the Message Center by you. This is great because it allows us to be especially supportive of the artists we +watch. Even if we're gone a week, we don't miss a beat on replying to art posts, journals, or pieces that need critique, etc. 

Earlier this year we prototyped "Activity Feeds" based on the people you watch. We wanted to see how the data felt when experienced this way, especially when Comments were added in from the people you are following.

 (Disclaimer: little user interface work was done on this, just function)

Playing with my +watch list using this approach was really nice. The biggest benefit was the comments, I found myself in conversations I didn't know were happening previously. And deviantART felt incredibly inviting to me as a result of that. You will definitely see Comments from people you +watch accessible to you in deviantART v999. But we recognize that Activity Feeds aren't necessarily the right solution for us, and that preserving the best aspects of our current Message Center is a *must* for deviants around the world. 

We're going to begin by improving the look and feel of our current message center. And we'll likely release an activity feed in our first Mobile apps later this year.

Personalization, More Like This, and how they tie together to produce a beautiful deviantART especially for you.

How do you like your message center?

What works the best?

What isn't working so well?

What would you like to see?