Welcome back to Part 3 of our series, Building A Discord.

In case you missed it: In Part 1, we discussed how and why you should use Discord. In Part 2, we went a step further and discussed developing your action plan for getting the server up and running.

This time, we’ll take another leap forward and discuss how to polish your server and get it looking and functioning well.

Steps for Styling

It’s the little details and extra effort that will make your server appear more professional. This is especially important if you are running your server for a game or studio. Appearing unprofessional gives the impression that the studio doesn’t care, about their game or their community. Beyond improving presentation, polishing the server can also make it more eye-catching.

Polishing your server involves multiple steps, but the end result should be that your server appears more organized, visually appealing, and functional:

Step 1: Get Organized

Before you begin polishing, take a step back and make sure everything is ready to go. Do you have the necessary channels? Do you have your user roles set up? Have you written out the rules and FAQ and given them a channel (or channels, if you split them)?

If not, make sure you have that down before you worry about polishing.

Step 2: Add Custom Emojis

One thing you can do to add some flair to your server is adding emojis to channel names or even the category names. This isn’t necessary, and you may or may not like the look, but it’s certainly an option. We don’t use them in our server, but that’s simply a matter of preference. Plenty of servers use them to good effect.

Step 3: Personalize the Artwork

Another common way to add a personal, custom touch to your server is adding custom artwork themed to the game or studio to post rules and FAQ. This will help users actually see and (hopefully) read them. People respond much better to visuals, so if you have some nice looking graphics, people will be more inclined to engage with them.

Step 4: Color Code Your Server

One more thing you can do for adding some more visual appeal and organization is to color code the various roles in your server. Discord allows server admins to organize and color code the different roles, as well as have each role separated by the role hierarchy (roles are organized from top to bottom based on your list of roles in your server).

This not only adds some color and personality to your server, but it gives users an immediate visual cue as to who’s who in the community. If you make all of your Mods or Staff blue, for example, community members immediately know that when they see a blue name, they are a mod.

Not only does color coding look better and more organized, but it creates an important distinction between users. If everyone in the server has the same white color, users don’t know if they’re speaking to the server owner or some other random member of the community.

Do It for the Fans

Taking the time to make sure your server is looking and functioning well is one of the biggest differences between Discord amateurs and veterans. Having everything in its proper place, keeping it all organized, and color coding improves the visual appeal and enhances the server’s organization.

It’s perfectly possible to run a server without going through all of these steps, but taking that extra step shows that you care about your server, your product, and most importantly, your community.

There’s one thing we didn’t touch on here that can also help with polishing your server: Discord Bots. Come back next time for Part 4 of our series, and we’ll discuss the various bots you can have in your discord, and what functions they can serve to take your server to the next level.

 

Want to see that slick presentation for yourself? Join the Mega Cat Discord here!

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