My musepad

Cupcake App Wars

So calling some apps “cupcakes” stirred the pot somewhat.  Like I said, I enjoy the occasional cupcake, but it is not the basis of a healthy diet for the user or for the developer.  It is not just me however that is calling out such apps for being cupcakes.  The other day, someone wrote about the need for apps to become habit forming.

To be fair however, there were some valid comments about how the term cupcake gets applied.  There are really three considerations when considering the need for implementing superior design early on in the product development cycle:

• User context – Does your app address consumers or business users?  Consumers are more fickle and will be more swayed by superior design.  That is exactly what cupcakes are however.  You get lulled into eating one, but less apt to eat more.  Business users simply need something easy to use, thus will gravitate to apps that have a better overall experience over one that is beautiful.  You also need to consider the core demographic of users that you are targeting, so your design decisions may change based on age, culture, geography, or other factors.
• Functional context – What does your app do?  If your app is a game or a highly gamified, then it behooves you to release an application that is highly designed.  That is a core theme of the product.  The same would go for sites in fashion or food or culture.  If it is a utility or pure technology however, then pretty pixels are not much of a factor.  It is about usability and fulfillment rather can a killer user interface.  The interface is simply not a factor or a market differentiator in this context, which is why there is such a wide gap in the design of consumer apps over business apps.
• Maturity context – Are you in the first release pushing out a minimally viable product?  Design is a nice to have, but not a differentiator.  What about a startup that has been at it for a couple of years with a large user population?  You are probably at the stage where it pays to have something look more polished and professional.  Time and resources are at a premium in early stage startups, so the goal by necessity has to be finding product-market fit.  Early adopters will suffer the ugly app if it does what is advertised.  The mainstream users later on however will be more apt to use an app that is more aesthetically pleasing.

All three contexts need to be considered when determining how you prioritize the need for design.  It can be one of the harder elements of product development to nail down because it is so subjective.  Implementing product features or tuning the architecture are fairly cut and dry decisions.  Figuring out what fonts, color palettes, and design elements you like is a battle that can drag on for months amongst founders.  Therefore it comes down to prioritizing the value of spending significant time on design.

More importantly though, the application has to fit a user need and fit that need in a way that is faster, cheaper, and better than existing options.  You are implementing a behavior change with users.  With all of the distractions of other apps out there, if your users are not using your app on a regular basis, it is easy to forget about it.  As I often tell folks, if your app is not in the browser bookmark bar or the home page of users’ smartphones, then you are in a losing situation.

Do not let yourself become a cupcake app.  Get the product-market fit right, observe and learn how users are using the product, and build in an experience that gets people to love using your product on a regular basis.  If having pretty pixels is integral to that process, then commit to it, otherwise save the effort and resources for a later time.