Designing for User Anticipation

⏳ Designing Better Loading and Progress Indicators UX. Practical UX guidelines to reduce the impact of waiting and choose the right loading indicator based on anticipated wait time ↓ ✅ Perception of wait time is more important than its duration. 🤔 Users overestimate passive waiting (standing still) by 36%. ✅ Active waiting (walking, interacting) feels much shorter. ✅ 20% rule: users only notice speed changes of at least 20%. 🤔 Small optimizations (e.g. shaving 0.2s off 5s) go unnoticed. ✅ 2 questions: "How much longer?" and "Is it working?" 🚫 Don’t use any loading indicators for waiting times < 1s. ✅ Short wait times (1–3s): use skeleton screens or spinners. ✅ Medium wait times (3–10s): use progress bars or indicators. ✅ Long wait time (10+s): show progress and allow interaction. 🤔 Uncertainty makes waiting feel significantly longer. ✅ Explain to users what’s happening in the background. ✅ Optimistic UI: ask for next steps while procees is running. ✅ The more valuable the reward, the longer tolerance to wait. ✅ Aim for improving perceived speed with reduced passive wait. Often we can’t speed up interactions for technical reasons. But we can reduce the perceived waiting time, which is often way more important than the actual duration. When a UI visualizes progress, users accept longer waits because they have right expectations and can track progress ((Buell & Norton, 2011). People are impatient if they don’t know how long to wait. Waiting without any explanation (spinning circle) feels longer than one where the product says why it’s busy. Also, waiting to START a task feels longer than waiting for a task to FINISH, so early start helps reduce frustrations as well. Users also tend to be highly sensitive to “queue jumping”. If a process they started later finishes earlier than a previous one, it creates significant frustration and abandonment. In the end, it’s all about setting right expectations, explaining what happens frequently and keeping people busy when waiting. It might not necessarily help make the application faster, but it will make it feel faster — and it could be enough to keep users on the page for just a little bit longer, and drive them to success from there. – ✤ Useful resources: Perceived Performance (Series), by Denys Mishunov https://lnkd.in/dvVkt3r3 Loading and Progress Indicators UX, by Taras Bakusevych https://lnkd.in/e5KFPiiq ↓

This is a masterclass in contrarian app design. It argues speed and convenience create a thin connection between your product and user. This Duolingo loading screen is a perfect example. Turns out long onboarding flows and loading screens can actually INCREASE retention. Cinematic, animated onboarding experiences teach users to appreciate the craft of your app. Be a symphony that steadily unfolds, not a ringtone that rushes to the chorus. Instead of minimizing "time to delight", you take time to make users feel seen by collecting their preferences and teaching them your utility. This thoughtful friction becomes a switching cost and moat. Similarly, loading screens let you coil the spring. Studies show half the joy of a vacation is the anticipation of counting the days til departure. So when you reward a user, create a crescendo to the climax of sound, light, and haptics. Duolingo runs the adorable animation of their mascot bursting through the clouds before you level up. The win is more satisfying when you wait for it. The best part about funding brilliant founders like Besart Çopa is learning from them. Read his whole blog post in the comments, and see his craft in action in First Voyage's self-care companion app Momo.

💻 Designing for a user who is moving at 30km/h is a reality check for any UX Designer. I’m currently deep in the wireframing stage for our Rider App, and it’s a masterclass in Anticipatory Design. When you design for delivery partners, the "happy path" doesn't happen in a quiet office. It happens in the rain, in heavy traffic, and under tight deadlines. To make the experience feel seamless, I’m focusing on three things: 🎖️Reducing Cognitive Load: A rider shouldn't have to "think" about the next step. The app should anticipate it. If they just arrived at the store, the order ID should already be front and center. 🎖️Glanceable UI: Information architecture is life or death. I’m stripping away every non-essential pixel so they can get the data they need in a 0.5-second glance. 🎖️Contextual Triggers: Using anticipatory logic to surface the "Contact Customer" button only when they are within 100 meters of the drop-off point. 🥅 The goal? To move from "reactive" tools to "proactive" partners. We aren't just building an app; we're building a tool that respects their time and safety. It’s a tough task to build from scratch, but seeing a wireframe solve a real-world frustration is why I love Product Design. 🤘To my fellow designers: Have you ever had to design for a "non-desk" environment? What was your biggest takeaway? 👇 #ProductDesign #UXPsychology #AnticipatoryDesign #Logistics #UserExperience #harishux

A subscription box company approached me last month with a counterintuitive problem: their customers loved the products but weren't renewing subscriptions. The issue wasn't product quality or pricing. It was their unboxing sequence. I've been studying how e-commerce design strategy extends beyond the website into physical touchpoints, and the psychology of anticipation continues to fascinate me. Every layer of packaging is either building excitement or diminishing it. Their original design treated unboxing like unwrapping a gift - everything revealed at once. But subscription customers aren't opening birthday presents. They're engaging in a monthly ritual that needs to feel fresh every time. We redesigned the experience around discovery phases. First layer: a personalized note acknowledging their subscription journey. Second layer: featured product with clear explanation of why it was selected for them. Third layer: complementary items that created a cohesive story together. Most importantly, we added a preview element for next month - not revealing everything, but creating enough curiosity to bridge the gap between shipments. Renewal rates increased 42% within two quarters. E-commerce design strategy isn't just about optimizing conversion funnels. It's about engineering experiences that extend far beyond the digital transaction, creating physical touchpoints that reinforce why customers chose you in the first place. The most successful subscription brands I work with understand that retention happens in the unboxing moment, not just the checkout process. From my perspective, great e-commerce design strategy treats every customer interaction as part of a continuous conversation, not a series of isolated transactions. What physical touchpoints in your e-commerce experience create the strongest emotional connection with your customers?

I crown #Dishoom the best Indian restaurant in London. And not (just) because their amazing chefs. They’ve mastered the art of Wait Design. We often think of waiting as something to minimize technically. But in many cases, it’s not about the wait time- 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗲𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗮𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲. And somehow… they took fully hangry Yael through a 60-minute wait without me losing it. Here’s what they did, and why it’s UX gold: 🟡 Step 1: Took my name Suddenly, I wasn’t waiting — I was on the list. That’s reframing 101. 🟡 Step 2: Handed me a menu Now I’m browsing, not counting minutes. → Saved decision time later → Built anticipation (I was already craving naan) Micro-completion = calm user 🟡 Step 3: Drinks at the bar Dopamine. Distraction. Calories. All in a different space, made me feel one step closer. Each step delivered a sense of progress. 👉I Swipe to learn how to apply Dishoom’s magic to your product, and turn waiting into wanting. 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗺 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻’𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗼𝗱. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁. 👇 Seen a product or service that handles “waiting” beautifully? Drop it below, I’m collecting favorites. #UXDesign #ProductDesign #ServiceDesign #OnboardingFlow #BehavioralDesign #UserExperience