8/∞
From 4 friends to a thriving virtual space for 180+ artists and technologists.
As Co-founder and Community Architect for Eight or Infinity (8/∞), I designed and scaled a digital community from the ground up. The challenge was to create an environment that could grow while fostering genuine connection, psychological safety, and collaborative creation. I engineered the platform's social systems, designed the member experience, and developed a suite of custom software solutions to automate operations and enhance engagement. Today, it is a self-sustaining ecosystem with high retention and numerous member-led initiatives.
My work focused on designing the underlying structure of the community—the blueprint for how people would connect, interact, and grow.
- Structural Design: I architected the community's information hierarchy, channel layout, and tiered role system to guide the member journey from newcomer to trusted leader.
- Software Engineering: I identified key operational and experiential gaps and built custom bots using Node.js and the Discord API to solve them, focusing on user recognition and privacy.
- User Experience (UX) & Safety: I established the community's core principles and implemented technical solutions to create a space that felt both engaging and psychologically safe.
- Event Programming: I co-led the content strategy, organizing a diverse calendar of events—from technical workshops to collaborative art nights—to serve our multi-disciplinary member base.
In a remote world, there's a need for spaces that are more than just chat rooms. The core challenge was to intentionally design a digital environment that could scale without losing its soul. How could we build a system that actively encourages trust, rewards positive contributions, and empowers members to take ownership?
My solution was to treat the community as a product, focusing on two key areas: the structural blueprint and the human-centered tech.
1. The Structural Blueprint: Designing the Space
I designed the Discord server not as a list of channels, but as a purposeful space. This included a clear onboarding area for new members, dedicated zones for deep work and collaboration, and social hubs for spontaneous fun. The role system was designed as a progression path, granting more access and responsibility as members engaged, effectively creating a built-in incentive for leadership.
2. Engineering for Humans: Custom Bot Suite
Off-the-shelf tools couldn't meet our community's unique needs, so I built our own.
- A Bot to Encourage Great Contributions
- Problem: We needed a way to make members feel genuinely seen and appreciated for their contributions, as standard "like" features felt impersonal.
- Solution: I engineered a custom bot that detects when a post is "starred" by multiple members. It then tags the user under the post, sending a personal notification to the original author and awards them points, creating a positive feedback loop.
- Impact: This system gamified quality contributions and demonstrably increased member-to-member recognition.
- A Bot to Protect Our Safest Space
- Problem: For our "venting" channel to be effective, it required absolute trust and a feeling of privacy that manual moderation couldn't guarantee.
- Solution: I developed a lightweight, reliable automation that purges all messages from the channel on a 30-day cycle.
- Impact: This privacy-by-design feature made the channel one of our community's most valued assets for authentic and safe communication.
- Languages & Runtime: JavaScript, Node.js
- Key Libraries: Discord.js
- Platform & APIs: Discord API, n8n (for visual workflows)
- Tools: Git, Visual Studio Code
- Scaled community from 4 to 180+ members and cultivated a highly engaged core group.
- Fostered a culture of ownership, resulting in over 5 distinct member-led events and projects.
- Engineered a safer, more positive environment, directly increasing trust and quality of interactions through custom tooling.
- Successfully mobilized the community for a "Slice of Love" charity event, demonstrating our collective ability to create real-world impact.
This project demonstrates my ability to merge human-centered design with technical execution to build platforms where people and communities can thrive.