"I was designing a feature that looked absolutely perfect. Clean interface. Intuitive layout. The kind of design that makes you want to screenshot it for your portfolio! Then I did something, I should have done hours earlier - I actually used it! I clicked through the prototype like a real user would. Followed the happy path. Then the unhappy path. Then the "what if the user is distracted & clicks the wrong thing" path."
"And that's when I saw it. The entire flow was broken! Not broken in an obvious way. Not broken in a "the button doesn't work" way. Broken in a much more insidious way - It relied on users remembering to do something manually! Why This Is The Worst Kind..."
Visually polished interfaces can still fail once used like a real user. Clicking through prototypes along happy, unhappy, and distracted paths exposes hidden failures. Flows that rely on users remembering manual steps are fragile and create subtle, insidious breakage rather than obvious errors. Such dependence increases user error, frustration, and support costs. Designers should validate prototypes early and often, simulate distracted or mistaken behaviors, and build safeguards such as defaults, automation, confirmations, and recovery paths. Prioritizing forgiving, memory-free interactions improves reliability and overall user experience.
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