How to "unalive" a good product idea

Hello UXer!

Let’s build a product.

But not just any product. Let’s build a bad one. And to really make it terrible, let’s completely ignore content, context, and the user experience.

Here’s the playbook:

1. Ignore your users:

   Skip research. Forget about user personas. Why waste time understanding the market or users? Go with your gut. Your hunch is more reliable than data, right?

2. Build without a strategy:

   Dive straight into development. No roadmap, no goals. A product without purpose is the best way to confuse everyone involved.

3. Prioritize features over functionality:

   Cram in as many features as possible. Forget about solving a specific problem—quantity over quality always wins (or so you think).

4. Ignore the user journey:

   Onboarding? Optional. Information architecture? Overrated. Just toss in random pages with no logical flow.

5. Make the content an afterthought:

   Leave your microcopy to the developers. Placeholder text like “Click Here” or jargon-heavy labels like “Execute Action Protocol” will do just fine.

   Or better yet, launch your product with placeholder copy that reads like a robot wrote it. Why craft thoughtful error messages or intuitive microcopy? Confusion builds character, right?

6. Context? What context?

   Who cares how your product fits into users’ lives? Build in a vacuum and assume they’ll adapt to you, not the other way around.

7. Overload the interface:

   Minimalism is boring. Add as much text as possible. Labels, tooltips, dropdowns—just throw it all in. A cluttered interface shows you’ve thought a lot about the user…just not their experience. A messy UI screams “innovative,” right?

Storytime

Now, let’s imagine “StreamMate.” It’s a platform where users can stream and rent out unused internet bandwidth. Sounds great in theory, right?

Here’s how we make it fail:

• The onboarding flow welcomes users with “Lorem ipsum” placeholders.

• Key features are buried under jargon-filled menus like “Bandwidth Optimization Framework.”

• Security settings have labels like “Advanced Toggle Functionality”. No explanation, no context.

• Oh, and the call to action? A vague “Click Here.” For what? Who knows? 🤷

Users abandon StreamMate in droves. In six months, the product is dead like it never lived. Note that this is not because the idea is bad, but because the execution leaves them lost and frustrated - a masterclass in product sabotage.

The lesson

Every product tells a story, and that story is told through UX, content, and context. If you ignore those elements, you’re not just killing a good product idea; you’re killing the experience.

So, the next time you work on a product, ask yourself: What story are we telling, and how does the content and context bring it to life?

2025 with Content & Context 🤝 

This year, I want to take you on a journey.

Not just through my takes on what content founded on better context looks like (it looks pretty good actually), but through the world of UX writing itself. What it is, what it isn’t, and why it matters in product UX in general.

And because you’ve been with me through this journey so far, I’ve put together something special: a free resource, UX Writing for Small Teams. It’s my way of saying thank you and making sure that even if you don’t have a UX writer on your team yet, you can start creating better experiences right now.

You can grab it here.

Now I know this resource may not be beneficial for everyone, so if you have a special resource request, please reach out by replying to this email with what would be beneficial to you. That’s what UX is about, really.

Happy New Year, and welcome to 2025. Let’s make this a year where our words do more than just fill space because, honestly, ‘lorem ipsum’ can do that too.

New Here? Catch Up on These Reads

Here are a few past articles you might enjoy:

• This thing called UX writing... *sigh 

• A tale of two strategies⚔ 

• 👋 First impressions only happen once 

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