Recapturing the Fun of AOL
A speculative redesign of a once dominant platform, and a reflection in missed opportunity.
Every April Fools’ Day, I like to make something playful. An idea that’s slightly absurd but rooted in a real strategic “what if?”
One year, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the company that helped define the early internet for many, had left too much on the table.
AOL. It had all the right pieces; community, presence, identity, curation. So what if instead of fading into nostalgia while influencing unicorns, it had just made a few different bets?
The Solution Stack
Hacker
Platforms
iOS
Year
2017
Tactics
Tongue-in-Cheek
Irony
Sandbox Play
Tools
Principle for Mac
Photoshop
Signing on with a handshake
Dial-up was more than just a technical connection, it was a ritual. The sounds, the wait, the arrival. AOL turned logging on into an event.
In this reimagining, that pattern becomes symbolic. Users “dial in” to local community nodes, neighborhood-specific spaces that offer events, forums, and presence-based interactions.
A modern gesture of digital belonging grounded in geography.
Thematic Aggregation
AOL’s “Channels” were early attempts at thematic aggregation. Part directory, part editorial hub.
Here, they become interest-driven ecosystems. Part human-curated content, part creator-driven community.
Think editorial youtube meets periscope, without the algorithmic noise.
Community as Infrastructure
Instant Messenger and chat rooms were AOL’s killer features. They made the web social before social media existed. But AOL treated them like a bonus, not a backbone.
In this vision, real-time interaction becomes the core layer of the platform.
Live Rooms for a Global Studio Audience
The original AOL chat room was chaotic. Anyone could join, speak, and disappear. But what if that raw interaction had evolved into something more intentional
Imagine rooms as live fan spaces. Watching shows together, attending panels, or syncing up for real-time commentary.
The product isn’t content, it’s the experience of being part of something happening now.
Personally Relevant POVs
Spaces are more than video-based chat rooms. They’re dynamic POV spaces. Users act as producer of their experience choosing to “Swap POV” to a favorite speaker or mute a problematic guest, fly-on-the-wall style.
IMG Boards as Proto-Feeds
Before the feed, there were forums. And before forums, there were image boards and meme chains. All of which, frequently occurred on AOL’s platform…
The bones were there. The behavior was there. The only thing missing was modern discovery mechanics that enabled virality and network effects.
You've Got Mail!
AOL Mail was iconic, but it was also a breeding ground for spam, scams, and trolls. But what if that chaos had been reframed?
This version blends cybersecurity and satire into an educational experience that informs while it entertains.
The result? Turning spam into teachable moments for a smarter inbox and savvier users.
Reflections
This started as a joke, but it hit on something deeper for me. AOL had all the pieces, community, presence, identity, curation. It just didn't have the instincts to follow its users and pivot from legacy publishers to user-generated communities.
As technology was evolving rapidly, it missed its moment to lean into emerging behaviors and let the market pull it forward.
These exercises are always a fun sandbox for thought experiments. Breaking ideas down to first principles, then playing them forward to imagine what they could become. It's what I try to bring to every product I touch. Because at the end of the day, every product has blind spots and users are always trying to show you what they really want.
You just have to believe them.