Microinteractions · Dan Saffer · 2013
One of the reasons I love product management is the contrast between big and small. Thinking expansively about vision and strategy, whilst also getting into the weeds and sweating the small details that make something feel great to use. This book is about the small.
Micro-interactions are the tiny, often unnoticed moments within a product experience that can shape how users feel about an entire application. Despite their seemingly small scale, they can have a substantial impact on a product’s adoption and brand loyalty. When two competing products have essentially the same features, it’s these subtle design decisions—how a menu appears or how an alarm is silenced—that can tip the balance in favour of one product over another.
To craft reliable and delightful moments, it helps to view a micro-interaction in terms of four parts: a trigger that initiates it, the rules that govern its behaviour, feedback that shows what’s happening, and any loops or modes that define how long it lasts or when it changes. A trigger can be user-initiated—such as tapping a button—or system-initiated—like a location-based prompt or an incoming data feed. Rules form the underlying logic that determines exactly what happens once the trigger fires. Feedback then confirms or explains those rules to the user; it’s what makes the interaction feel intuitive and meaningful. Finally, loops and modes consider the passage of time or different contexts, for instance, whether a micro-interaction repeats or whether the product enters a special setting mode to handle an action differently.
For product managers, it’s important to focus on what users need and expect, keeping these micro details consistent with overall product objectives. Controls must be as simple as possible—using established patterns like buttons, toggles, or sliders—because the more often people use a particular interaction, the more visible and obvious it should be. At the same time, friction or cognitive load should remain minimal. If the product can track relevant data about the user’s habits or environment, that can shape smarter defaults or shortcuts. Micro-interactions often feel magical when they intuitively anticipate a user’s needs before the user realises those needs exist.
Feedback, whether visual, auditory, or haptic, should occur as soon as an action is taken or when a system event triggers a significant change. Equally crucial is knowing when not to overload a user with feedback. A small animation, subtle vibration, or a short sound effect can go a long way to confirm what just happened. One way to test how necessary feedback is involves the so-called “foghorn test”: if an event is so critical that users need to know about it even when they can’t see the screen, then it merits more prominent feedback like a loud alert or persistent on-screen message.
Modes can be introduced when a product requires a specialised context—like a settings panel where toggling a switch might have different consequences than usual—but they should be used sparingly. Too many modes can confuse users who forget which context they are in. Similarly, loops that run indefinitely or for extended periods must be carefully managed to prevent a product from feeling stuck or overwhelming the user with repetitive events.
Sometimes a seemingly mundane micro-interaction becomes a moment for brand differentiation. A fun animation, a helpful bit of text, or a clever haptic pattern can impart personality. Still, product managers should ensure it doesn’t disrupt the user’s primary goal. Always consider whether adding a playful element will serve the user’s needs or simply distract them. If you find a micro-interaction dull or confusing, it can often be improved by surfacing the most relevant piece of data, preventing potential human errors, adding an invisible trigger for advanced users, or integrating a subtle animation that clarifies what just happened.
Ultimately, micro-interactions remind us that the smallest details, when skilfully designed, have the power to elevate an entire product experience. By paying close attention to triggers, rules, feedback, and the timelines or modes in which they operate, product managers can ensure that each touchpoint—no matter how small—contributes to a fluid, memorable, and user-friendly product. These details may be hidden in plain sight, but they’re often what people remember most.
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Applying behavioural insights to challenges in health policy
Dominic King. 2015. (View Paper → )
Many of the more significant challenges we face in healthcare - such as reducing smoking, encouraging exercise and improving clinician adherence to evidence-based guidelines - will only be resolved if we are more successful at changing behaviours. The traditional tools used when thinking about influencing behaviour include legislation, regulation and information provision. Recently, interest has been shown in policies that ‘nudge’ people in particular directions; drawing on major advances in our understanding that behaviour is strongly influenced (in largely automatic ways) by the context and situation within which it is placed.
Product Strategy is best expressed in terms of human behaviour change. This makes strategy clear, tractable and measurable to a team. Product Managers therefore need to be masters of behaviour change - luckily there’s plenty of good research in this space we can learn from. ’MindSpace’ Effects:
- Messenger - we are heavily influenced by who communicates information to us
- Incentives - our responses to incentives are shaped by predictable mental shortcuts such as strongly avoiding losses
- Norms - we are strongly influenced by what others do
- Defaults - we 'go with the flow' of pre-set options
- Salience - our attention is drawn to what is novel and seems relevant to us
- Priming - our acts are often influenced by sub-conscious cues
- Affect - our emotional associations can powerfully shape our actions
- Commitments - we seek to be consistent with our public promises, and reciprocate acts
- Ego - we act in ways that make us feel better about ourselves
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Book Highlights
If you take too long to review and respond to our work, it might shorten the time we have available to implement your changes. Tom Greever · Articulating Design Decisions
Portions of organisations are chain-linked. When each link is managed somewhat separately, the system can get stuck in a low-effectiveness state. The problem arises because of quality matching. That is, if you are in charge of one link of the chain, there is no point in investing resources in making your link better if other link managers are not. Good Strategy / Bad Strategy · Richard Rumelt
It is vitally important that everyone on the design team not only become familiar with the cast of characters, but that each persona become like a real person—like a fellow member of the development team. The Inmates Are Running the Asylum · Alan Cooper
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Quotes & Tweets
If it costs your peace, it’s too expensive. Paulo Coelho
Mastery is the best goal because the rich can’t buy it, the impatient can’t rush it, the privileged can’t inherit it and nobody can steal it. You can only earn it through hard work. Derek Sivers
You don't need more time. You need more focus. Time isn't the constraint. Your choices are. Shane Parrish