A product can have a polished interface and still leave new users unsure what to do. In this lesson, Carlos Sanabria connects three common audit findings: generic visual identity, confusing onboarding and workflows that do not match the customer’s task.
The common question is whether a person encountering the product for the first time can recognize its purpose and make useful progress.
What you'll learn.
- Give the interface a recognizable identity and a clear purpose.
- Design around the customer’s actual workflow.
- Define the first successful task and make the route to it visible.
Establish a clear identity.
The recording describes a useful design question: would the product remain recognizable if its logo were removed? An interface assembled from generic defaults may have little that connects it to the business or audience.
Brand guidelines and relevant visual references can help a team make deliberate choices. The goal is a coherent product experience, not difference for its own sake. Visual identity should support what the customer is trying to understand and accomplish.
Observe the customer’s work.
Knowing your ideal customer profile is not the same as understanding how that person uses a tool. Carlos uses the example of a product for a barista: the interface should reflect the work happening during the day, rather than the founder’s assumptions about it.
Identify the tasks, the order in which they occur and the information needed at each step. Then check whether the product’s organization follows that pattern or forces users to translate their work into an unfamiliar structure.
Make the first success visible.
The lesson asks whether a first-time user can reach value without guidance, whether the most useful capability is visible and how quickly the person experiences success. Those questions require the team to define success concretely.
In a digital-wallet example, a useful task might be completing a transfer. Viewing a balance and finding the relevant action should support that journey. If guidance is necessary, make it a short path to the outcome rather than a tour of every feature.
Give workflows clear boundaries.
A task should have an understandable entry point and destination. Carlos uses creating an invoice as an example of a workflow that should be recognizable without the user having to search unrelated areas.
Walk through your product as a new customer with one task in mind. Note where the next action becomes unclear, where labels fail to explain the choice and where the user has to remember information from another screen. Those observations give the team specific improvements to test.
Start the design review with the customer’s first meaningful task. A recognizable interface, visible value and clear workflows help turn an initial visit into a useful experience.
