Friction and Flow

Hi everyone,

The “user journey” has been on my mind a lot, and this week I hit a classic roadblock with Mandalafy.

The interactive design tool worked beautifully on a desktop, but on a mobile phone, it would freeze. Mobile memory can’t handle a big design tool, and a freezing site makes a bad first impression. I had to solve it.

This is where my partnership with AI gets interesting. I've found that AI is great at solving a problem once you've defined the path. But my important role is to realize when we need to stop going down one road and try a new direction. I realized the fix was about rethinking the entire mobile layout.

I proposed a new approach: a hero section built as a horizontal slider and a simpler version of the design tool, all designed to keep the page's vertical scroll to a minimum. With those new strategic constraints, the AI helped me build it out successfully.

This whole process got me thinking about a puzzle: why is it so hard to get people to try something new online? Technically, it’s just a click or two.

I suspect it’s because our brains are trying to conserve energy while navigating a storm of online micro-decisions. In that context, friction isn't just an inconvenience; it's a tax on our limited attention.

If a smooth experience is just the price of entry, what makes it worthwhile? I think it’s about creating an experience that is inherently rewarding - whether through creativity, connection, or curiosity.

My past projects have taught me a lot about this. Running a social audio Space on X had very low friction. It required effort, for sure, but everyone was already spending time in Spaces, so it was a small ask. In contrast, building a separate community website was a much bigger ask. That’s the fundamental trade-off, isn't it? For me, there's immense value in building something that is truly your own, not constrained by the limitations of large, established platforms.

This is all a work in progress, and you may be navigating similar challenges. Does this resonate with your experience? Feel free to reply to this email. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Until next time,

Dan Ryan