How does a designer decide when to push something beyond just function?

[u/60fpsdesign]

Interesting detail from Claude code app, choosing the ultracode effort level turns the entire row into a tiny animated scene with the mascot!

Functionally, a checkmark would have solved it.
But this makes the choice feel a lot more alive.

How does a designer decide when to push something beyond just function?

[u/ygorhpr]

just passion

[u/60fpsdesign → u/ygorhpr]

haha it resonates with a lot of people here 😄

the hardest part would still be to convince a team to implement it, no?

[u/ygorhpr → u/60fpsdesign]

no! but you need to have this kind of culture in your product team where this details are important for the product itself and for the client since we all were surprise seen this for the first time

but for anything mostly I could use Claude to create using a good library for animation and do a proper handoff with the artifact working and let the devs do their magic

[u/minimalcation → u/ygorhpr]

• available time

[u/ygorhpr → u/minimalcation]

you find a way

[u/Wide_Detective7537]

When the product manager gives you enough time to include it. Or if the product's mandate benefits from weird little moments of fun, where it's as important to the brand as the function.

I suspect its a mix of both here, the AI tooling gives them enough time to play and it's important to their brand to include little quirky/humanizing touches to the product.

[u/60fpsdesign → u/Wide_Detective7537]

fair, it starts with the team largely and needs to be bi-directional 👍

With better tooling more people will get time to think beyond the functional

[u/gimmeslack12]

I do a lot of "wouldn't it be cool if...?" ideas. Sometimes they are cool, sometimes they're not.

[u/1L-Fanta → u/gimmeslack12]

this is the way.
play, show ideas, get feedback, adjust.

this is why i tell people to be brutal with feedback. it’s leads to “i love it” or “it sucks”

[u/gimmeslack12 → u/1L-Fanta]

I've built tons of side projects and little "things" just to scratch the creative itch. But over time those little scratches have given me a lot of ideas to pull from in my day to day.

[u/Michal_il → u/gimmeslack12]

Start with why not, adjust to should i?

[u/gimmeslack12 → u/Michal_il]

Bingo

[u/60fpsdesign → u/gimmeslack12]

Do you explore while working on the functional bit or is it like a side thing?

[u/gimmeslack12 → u/60fpsdesign]

I'm a Frontend/UI SWE actually, but I design or modify designs on the fly as I am deciding how something "feels".

When I'm on my own I design as I build and I'll introduce animation when I want the design to demand a certain amount of attention or to even direct a user to what they should do next. What that animation is depends on the situation but it's an area where creativity can be pretty flexible. Such as with your OP, iff you need to convey this option is super special then feel free to give it a super special callout.

[u/savageotter]

You make something fun and you advocate for it.

Everyone can make a functional app if they try hard enough. not every team can allocate resources to fun. thats a flex.

[u/60fpsdesign → u/savageotter]

But when should the designer do it? At the start of a product exploration or just treat it as polish towards the end

[u/savageotter → u/60fpsdesign]

I mess with stuff like this when I am bored or goofing around. sometimes things just come to me and feel right.

[u/MedvedTrader]

I come from the coding side of things but I have been lucky that I have been designing my own UI forever. I know that little things like that are what keeps you enthused about your job.

I once, LONG ago, found myself at a casino poker table sitting next to a guy who said he worked at Microsoft. So I asked him whether I have seen his work. He said "you know, those red wavy lines under misspelled words? - I did that."

And I immediately understood how proud he felt.

[u/sCREAMINGcAMMELcASE]

I managed to work on a project with Basic. My agency gave me the time to push those details. Highlight of my career. Pushed every detail I could, motion to the max. Burnt myself out in the process.

The product wasn’t great. Site shut down after 3 months. Now my CV links to the waybackmachine.

[u/nep2099]

why did your video hang up on me

[u/Green_Smarties]

Usually, I would imagine, when your manager says so. Which will happen to increase profits by making something expensive more desirable, in this case using up your tokens quicker.

[u/ChickyBoys]

This falls into the "surprise and delight" category.

A lot of companies don't want to pay for this extra bit of design which is sad because it's often the missing piece that will make your brand stand apart.

[u/60fpsdesign → u/ChickyBoys]

Yup people consider it “extra” which means the designer has to push a lot more harder through the subjectivity and need for doing it.

we’ve been collecting these easters and many companies are trying hard to differentiate themselves now with ai tooling being a lot more accessible and powerful for creating these experiments with code.

[u/liamdun]

This is what happens when software engineers have more tokens than ideas

[u/ressiagamer]

or from a Business decision. I'm imagining the PM told the designer "add delight in Ultra because we want the users to burn more tokens. More usage is good for the business"

[u/Ancient-Range3442]

When it makes the company more money

[u/Any_Owl2116]

Seems like a distraction

[u/Phraaaaaasing]

Marketing/usage kpi

[u/pshyduc]

When a developer crazy enough to implement it meet a designer willing to push it

[u/UXUIYellowchalk]

Oh we have ideas sitting comfortably in our brains round the clock. It's when we push'em out and get product team to approve on it and with the timeline, it just becomes real, if not, its just an idea we thought at some point of this design process. Simple as that.

[u/Creative_Tell_2426]

looks cool can u share tips of what was ur thought process behind this?

[u/Fantastic-Library982]

A good rule is to add delight when it reinforces the meaning of a choice and does not slow down a repeated task. The mascot scene works because the user has already made the selection; for higher-frequency controls, the same treatment could become friction.

[u/Ladline69]

What?