Essays

Build for the human on the other side

It's easy to forget there's a person on the other side of the screen — tired, busy, halfway through a hard day, hoping this thing makes it a little lighter.

We try not to forget. Every product is a promise to that person: I'll respect your time, your attention and your trust. Private by default. Honest pricing. No patterns engineered to trap you.

Technology that improves a real human life is rarer than technology that simply impresses. We're interested in the first kind.

If a product doesn't leave someone's day a little better, it isn't worth making — no matter how clever the demo.