UX Design Patterns And Anti-Patterns

UX Reminder: Design for thumbs, not just eyes. 49% of users operate their phones one-handed. That tiny thumb? It decides if your design feels good or frustrates. Here’s the reality: 🟢 Easy zone = where actions should go 🟡 Stretch zone = okay for secondary stuff 🔴 Hard zone = avoid putting key CTAs here Yet so many apps hide the good stuff at the top. Why make users stretch for it? ✨ Pro tip: Place primary actions in the green zone Avoid top corners for anything important Test your designs like an actual user — with one hand! UX isn’t about showing off. It’s about showing up for your users. What’s one mobile app that nailed thumb-friendly UX? Let’s drop names.

Great UX doesn’t shout. It protects you — quietly. Ever notice how iPhone calls don’t always look the same? Sometimes, you see two buttons: ✅ Accept ❌ Decline Other times? Just one thing: ⏩ Slide to answer Feels random? But it’s not! This is Apple being intentional. This is UX doing its job. Here’s what’s really happening: 🟣 When your phone is unlocked: You’re alert. Engaged. So Apple gives you buttons. Tap. Quick. Done. 🟣 When your phone is locked: You’re not looking. Maybe it’s in your pocket. Or you’re half-asleep. So no buttons — just a swipe. Why? Because a swipe is intentional. You can’t do it by accident. It’s harder to mess up. Harder to pocket-answer. Harder to decline your boss at 2 AM by mistake. That’s not a bug. That’s UX thinking ahead. Small decision. Massive impact. That’s how we think at Design Monks - UI UX | Branding | SaaS | Webapp Design Agency: Not “how do we look cool?” But: “Where could someone get stuck, frustrated, or embarrassed?” And how do we stop that before it happens? You can use this too. In your product. Your pitch. Your process. ✅ Find friction ✅ Remove it ✅ Before it even feels like friction That’s how you build trust. One thoughtful micro-decision at a time.

Many teams believe they’re being inclusive when they say, “We kept accessibility in mind from the start." But good intentions aren’t the same as meaningful inclusion. I’ve been doing accessibility and inclusive design work for 25 years. Over the last decade, I’ve focused more deeply on what true disability inclusion really means—especially when it comes to power in the design relationship. Again and again, I’ve seen the same pattern: there are levels to inclusion. And only one of them truly shifts power. Here’s how that journey tends to unfold... ranked from least to most inclusive: Level 1: “We kept accessibility in mind.” You didn’t include disabled people. You included the idea of them. This is empathy without participation, and honestly... it’s not enough. Level 2: “We tested with disabled people just before launch.” There’s progress here—real people were involved. But testing at the end only lets you ask: “Do you accept what we built?” It’s too late for meaningful change. This is just late-stage validation. Level 3: “We tested early AND at the end.” Now there’s room for impact. People with disabilities had a chance to shape the work before it was finished. Their feedback could actually change the outcome—and that matters. Level 4: “We included disabled people throughout the process.” Even better. You've moved from on from a "testing" mindset. You brought people in during idea generation, design, development, and launch. You did research. You listened. You adjusted. That’s inclusion in action. Level 5: “We co-created the solution.” ✅ This is the gold standard. You didn’t just include people—you gave them power. They helped shape the goals, question the methods, and guide the direction. It wasn’t just "your" product. It was "ours" -- co-created together. Your greatest power is to give that power away. Inclusive design means shared decisions—not just shared feedback. If you’re not sure where to start, ask yourself: 👉 Where in our process do disabled people have the power to shape what we build? And if the answer is “nowhere”—it’s time to change that. #InclusiveDesign #Accessibility #DesignLeadership #CoCreation #DisabilityInclusion #UXDesign #ProductDesign

🔮 AI Design Compass (https://lnkd.in/ebU75PeQ), a comprehensive guide with design consideration to keep in mind when designing AI interfaces — by considering UX strategy, happy and unhappy paths, pitfalls, risks, ethics, feedback and building trust. By Vincent Koc, JP. From all the design patterns listed in the guide, probably the most significant one is around ethics and building trust. Technically, it’s remarkably challenging for an AI engine to return meaningful results with a high level of accuracy (>95%). It’s also very difficult for AI to understand that it doesn’t know something, and “admit” it. On the other hand, typing and re-typing text prompts for AI isn’t a great user experience. It’s slow, it’s repetitive, it’s time-consuming, and highly inefficient. Yet AI systems need very specific, highly detailed questions to provide specific, highly relevant answers. We could ask AI to generate AI prompts for itself. For that, we need to provide users with a rich set of templates and “building blocks” to communicate their intent, then ask AI to generate a variety of scenarios, and then verify relevant ones and dismiss the rest. For that, we need an efficient way to help users gradually fine-tune AI outcome, ideally without using a text interface at all. For example: – Allow users to adjust the temperature of output with knobs, – Cluster/cache AI responses to avoid expensive calculations, – Allow users to ask for more context to highlight some areas, – Suggest style lenses (Concrete ↔ Abstract, Lengthy ↔ Short), – Suggest scopes to limit output to a level of detail or expertise, – Allow users to scope their queries to a domain, timeframe, – Restrain AI to provide sources for each conclusion or insight, – Suggest relevant directions via related AI queries, – Add structure with chapters, segments to navigate data faster, – Suggest specific presets and templates to boost efficiency, – Help users make sense of data by clustering or summarizing it. AI interfaces can go way beyond text prompts. Once we find a way to surface fine-tuning for AI into our interfaces, we should see user’s efficiency increasing, to the point that it might feel almost magical. But most importantly: as we give users more control, we also pave a way to build trust into the system and the results it delivers. ✤ Useful resources AI Interaction Patterns, by Emily Campbell https://www.shapeof.ai Design Patterns For Building User’s Trust, via Sarah Gold https://lnkd.in/etZ7mm2Y Language Model Sketchbook, by Maggie Appleton https://lnkd.in/eXfxFk9w Style Lenses For AI, by Amelia Wattenberger https://lnkd.in/e-SJis23 AI × Design Toolkit (Worksheets + PDF), by Nadia Piet https://lnkd.in/eJEkCu2p AI Design Patterns, by Vitaly Friedman https://lnkd.in/efzFXbaZ #ux #design #ai

I've found empathy mapping most valuable during early project phases and presentations. Nothing convinces leadership to greenlight a project like showing them you truly understand your target audience's pain points. But, they're not for every situation. For straightforward projects with well-understood users, a quick check-in might be sufficient. The key is using empathy maps as tools for insight, not checkbox exercises. I've seen firsthand how they break down communication barriers between departments. The beauty of empathy mapping lies in its simplicity. The classic version has four quadrants – Says, Thinks, Does, and Feels — though I've found adding "Sees" and "Hears" can provide even more context for certain projects. What matters isn't the exact format but the conversations it sparks. Here's what works in my experience: - Start with a clear purpose. Are you trying to align your team around user needs? Inform a specific design decision? The goal shapes everything that follows. - Ground your map in reality. The most valuable maps come from actual user data – interviews, surveys, support tickets – not assumptions. I've watched teams realize how much they'd been projecting their own preferences onto users when confronted with real feedback. - Make it collaborative. Bring together people from different departments to fill out the map. The magic happens when your developer suddenly realizes why that feature the marketing team kept pushing for actually matters to users. - Keep it alive. The best empathy maps evolve as you learn more. I keep ours visible and revisit them regularly, especially when we're making crucial decisions.

Clever implementation of Progressive Disclosure by Myntra 😎 While browsing the Under Armour product detail page on the Myntra app recently, I noticed a new behaviour when hitting the back button. Instead of being taken directly back to the previous page or homepage, a bottom sheet popped up with: ✅ Product suggestions based on what I was viewing ✅ A clear Call-to-Action: “Go Back to Myntra” Which UX principle did Myntra apply? 1️⃣ Progressive Disclosure ↳ Rather than abruptly ending the session, the user is gently nudged toward options. It's a key persuasive design technique. 2️⃣ Interruption with Purpose ↳ This is a classic case of a "Just-in-time" UX intervention, designed not to annoy but to save the session. 3️⃣ Visual Anchoring ↳ “Go Back to Myntra” is sticky and clear, making it easy for users to recover their path & thus boosting navigation clarity. 4️⃣ Contextual Relevance ↳ The recommendations are tightly aligned with the viewed product, which maintains cognitive continuity and doesn’t feel jarring. What are the success metrics of this feature ? ✅ Key Success Metrics for Bottom Sheet Intercept ⭐️ Exit Rate Reduction from PDP: Measures how effectively the bottom sheet prevents users from dropping off after viewing a product. ⭐️ CTR on Suggested Products: Tracks engagement with product recommendations shown in the intercept. ⭐️ Post-Intercept Conversion Rate: Captures how many users make a purchase after interacting with the bottom sheet. ⭐️ Session Continuation & Time Spent: Indicates how well the intercept encourages users to stay and explore more. This feature is also being adopted by AJIO.com. We might see this feature quite often in other e-commerce and quick commerce apps. Do you like this feature? #UXDesign #ProductManagement #MobileUX #UserExperience #DesignThinking #ProductManager #ProductDesign #UIUX #Design 

“With so many screens to view something, isn’t it okay to not have a mobile-friendly design?” This is something a budding graphic designer asked me. What every designer needs to understand is that where mobile devices are the gateway to a vast online world, mobile-first design is a necessity. Here is why: 1/ With over 3.6 billion smartphone users worldwide, putting mobile users first is a no-brainer. It ensures a seamless, enjoyable experience for a massive audience. 2/ Google prioritizes mobile-friendly websites in search results. So, if you want your site to rank well, mobile responsiveness is a must. 3/ Mobile-optimised sites reduce bounce rates and increase user engagement. A responsive design adapts to various screen sizes, keeping visitors engaged. 4/ A mobile-friendly site conveys professionalism and trustworthiness. It leaves a positive impression on your audience. A few examples of brands that have already made full use of it are: 1. Companies like Amazon and Shopify streamlined interfaces, navigation and quick load times to enhance the shopping experience on any device. 2. Airbnb and Uber offer user-friendly interfaces that make booking accommodations or rides a breeze on smartphones. 3. Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn prioritise mobile users with responsive designs, enabling seamless social networking on the go. The goal of mobile-first design is not just to shrink a desktop site but to create a tailored experience that considers mobile users' unique needs. Investing in mobile-responsive design is a strategic move to stay relevant, boost engagement and meet users where they are. What mobile-friendly projects have impressed you lately? #graphicdesigner

Most content plans still begin with “What format should we make?” or “What channel are we using?” But that’s not how buyers think. Buyers aren’t looking for a blog or a reel. They’re moving through a mix of curiosity, comparison, doubt, and belief. Sometimes they’re passively scrolling. Other times they’re actively seeking clarity. The real question is what are they trying to process in that moment, and how is your content helping? That’s what this grid is built for. It maps two things: 1. The mindset your buyer is in 2. The job your content needs to do From curiosity-led hooks to decision-focused proof points, each quadrant has a clear role. Not format-first. Not channel-first. Buyer-first. This is how we should think about content strategy for 2025. Would be keen to hear how you’re structuring yours. Follow Aishwarya Gupta for more such frameworks and actionable insights. #Buyer #Content #BuyerContext #Grid #Framework #Marketing #Insights #Strategy

I recently had a chance to clock in for a 5-hour shift making coffee at one of Deputy's customers. Those hours provided a treasure trove of valuable information: which part of our product is most beloved by workers and why, what we could do better to enable worker productivity, and a wish list for new features that will help workers and managers be more connected and in sync. I also learned about how the baristas foster teamwork, what body movements and order of operations they do to maximize the amount of customers they can serve, and how they build real connection and loyalty with their buyers. It was one of the most memorable days of last year! When it comes to developing game changing innovation, "listening" to customers is no longer enough - leaders must go deeper! They actually have to step into their customers' shoes. I shared my thoughts with Forbes on the topic of human-centered design. My take? It’s about deep market research that comes with spending time with your users and building empathy through true understanding of their pain points. Translating data is something I’m passionate about, but understanding the HUMAN challenges behind the numbers is where the magic happens. Check out the 20 strategies shared by inspiring leaders, and tell me, what would you add to the list? Link here: https://lnkd.in/gH73y-nR #ForbesExpertPanel #TechnologyForGood #EmpathyInDesign #CustomerFeedback

No one can say this enough: empathy is NOT optional. It’s the beating heart of both UX design and Product Sense. Let me tell you a quick story... A while ago, while working at Okra, we were creating a product to help regular people make payments while in turn providing financial data to our business clients. Everything looked good on paper – solid features, sleek design, the works. But our customers' customers (as a B2B2C) were dropping off on a very critical screen. So, we (aka me 😉) went back to the users. And guess what? We’d missed the most basic thing: good UX is invisible. Users didn’t want any interruptions in the flow; 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘶𝘴. As a payment API, they wanted us as invisible as possible - they just want to make a damn payment! After understanding their POV, we minimised the designs, cut unnecessary steps, redid a part of our branding and gave them exactly what they needed. The response? 𝐀 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐩 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐬! That’s the power of empathy – it shifts everything. Whether you’re answering interview questions, crafting designs or just have a chat with your colleague, empathy is your superpower. ❓ What’s one time empathy changed how you approached a design or product? 𝘐𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯: 𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘮𝘺 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘺'𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘯 "𝘈 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵 𝘚𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦" 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘰𝘮 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 🤩 — Follow me, Grace, as I redefine myself.