24/12/2025
The Rule of Thumb
In Product Design, 'pretty' is not the goal. It's the baseline.
Look at this Dynamic Island UI.
Is the neon glow on the progress bar nice? Absolutely. It builds a premium feel.
But if you remove the 'Will arrive in 5min' text, the glow becomes useless.
This is the perfect hierarchy of a successful product:
Usability: I know exactly when my food arrives (Status).
Experience: It's right on my lock screen (Accessibility).
Aesthetics: The visual polish makes it delightful (Delight).
Never swap the order.
If it doesn't work, it doesn't matter how much it glows