Subversive UX Strategies

Most “feature adoption” problems are actually attention problems. Quick experiment (5 seconds): Read this list once. Then look away and recall what you remember. Chair Table Desk PINEAPPLE Lamp Sofa Odds are you remembered pineapple. Not because you love fruit. Because your brain is built to spot anomalies and delete sameness. This is the Von Restorff Effect (or the Isolation Effect). What stands out gets remembered. What blends in gets filtered out. Why this matters for feature adoption -  Most products do the right thing: ✅ consistent UI ✅ predictable components ✅ clean patterns That consistency makes apps usable. But it also creates a side effect: habituation. When something stays the same long enough, the brain stops “seeing” it. So when you ship a new feature that blends perfectly into the existing UI… it becomes another chair in a room full of chairs. Invisible. Not because it’s bad. Because it’s familiar. The practical playbook: Engineer a “Pineapple Moment” Not with louder emails. Not with another release note. With controlled contrast. This is where tools for in-product communication (Plotline) can shine—not as spammy “engagement,” but as a way to operationalize isolation without wrecking UX. 3 ways to do it: 1) Visual Isolation → Spotlights / Coachmarks Dim the rest. Highlight the one element. Use when you want a user to see + click once. (“This exists. This matters. Start here.”) 2) Kinetic Isolation → Floaters / Animations Motion attracts attention even during fast scanning. Use when you want a gentle pull without blocking the flow. (“Don’t miss this.”) 3) Contextual Isolation → Stories / Full-screen moments A full-screen story or announcement is a pattern interrupt. Use when timing matters: show it at the moment of relevance, not at app open. (“You’re about to do X. Here’s a faster way.”) The rule (so it doesn’t become spammy) One pineapple at a time. Too many “special” things = nothing is special. Isolate the benefit, not the feature. Don’t say “New dashboard.” Say “Cut this workflow from 6 taps to 2.” Turn it off after learning. Isolation is for discovery, not decoration. Most “adoption problems” are really visibility problems. So don’t ship another chair. Ship the pineapple—on purpose. 🍍 What's one "pineapple" you've used to grab attention? #productmanagement #uxdesign #featureadoption #growth #saas

Met Alistair Croll while he visited SF for his "Just Evil Enough" book launch, a few months after hearing him on Lenny Rachitsky's podcast. When I mentioned our data platform Recce, he lit up at the connection to "reconnaissance" - the concept central to his subversive marketing approach. As the former co-chair of O'Reilly's Strata conference, he immediately got what we're building. The core of Alistair's book is finding "zero-day exploits" in marketing (or product in a sense) - those unexpected approaches that give you an advantage before competitors catch on. Think Netflix using postal mail for DVDs before streaming was viable. What's the equivalent for data teams? Most data engineers obsess over architecture and pipelines while missing opportunities to rethink how their work creates competitive advantage. We need to do proper reconnaissance - scanning for gaps, mapping organizational decision points, and finding unconventional approaches to data problems. Alistair doesn't see marketing as separate from product - it's woven into the product itself. This perspective transforms how data teams should think too. Our dashboards, pipelines and models aren't just technical services but products that need user experience design, onboarding flows, and champions. At the end of the book he touched on organizational change with similar subversive mindset. At Pfizer, a new service gained adoption by starting small and getting key stakeholders hooked before formal rollout so management has no reason to object. Data teams can use this same approach instead of massive top-down initiatives. Start with a small group solving real problems in unexpected ways and let success spread organically. Your "just evil enough" data strategy isn't about being actually evil. It's about finding that small, unconventional advantage nobody else has spotted - combining overlooked datasets, focusing on user experience when others just deliver raw data, or building tools that make internal teams surprisingly productive. What's your data team's zero-day exploit? #JustEvilEnough #DataStrategy

🪰 A tiny fly saved thousands of euros at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. Here’s how: The cleaning staff noticed something odd— Men’s toilets were significantly more expensive to maintain than women’s. Why? Spillage around urinals. 💧 Instead of posters or warnings, a psychologist suggested something radically simple: Paint a realistic-looking fly on the urinal, right near the outlet. No rules. No signs. Just… a target. The result? 📉 Spillage reduced by 80% 📉 Cleaning costs dropped dramatically This became one of the most iconic examples of nudge theory in action. 💡 The insight: When you can’t change behavior through force or instruction… Design the environment to guide it instead. This isn’t just about toilets. It’s about marketing. UX design. Employee engagement. Consumer psychology. Leadership. 👉 If your audience isn’t doing what you want— You don’t need to shout louder. Maybe… you just need a fly. #BehavioralDesign #NudgeTheory #UXStrategy #MarketingPsychology #DesignThinking #ConsumerBehavior #LeadershipInsights #InnovationByDesign #LinkedInLearning #SanjaysMarketingMantra #PsychologyInBusiness #BrandThinking #RealWorldMarketing

Rapido showing how many riders rejected your ride? That’s not random. That’s a product strategy. Three likely reasons behind it: 1/ It sparks conversation. When users notice something unusual, they talk, Screenshots get shared. Curiosity turns into visibility without spending on ads. 2/ It nudges user behavior. By showing rejections, the app subtly tells you: “your price may not be attractive.” Outcome? Users increase fares → faster matches → better supply demand balance. 3/ It builds perceived transparency. Instead of a silent wait, users now see what’s happening behind the scenes. Even if imperfect, visibility creates a sense of control. Net net: This is not just a feature. It’s a lever driving engagement, influencing pricing behavior, and shaping perception in one move. ________________________________ 🔁 If this resonates, feel free to #Repost and share your perspective. 📍 Follow Onkar Bhadra for more insights on product thinking, growth, and real-world strategies. #Product #Strategy #User #Ux

🤔 Have you noticed YouTube quietly removed the ad countdown timer? This subtle UX change is a masterclass in user behavior manipulation. Check out the idea behind-the-scenes 👇 The traditional countdown timer created anticipation and anxiety - we'd stare at those seconds ticking down, mentally disconnected from the ad content. 𝐁𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭, YouTube 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 "𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐈 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐩" 𝐭𝐨 "𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐦 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠." This strategy particularly shines for casual viewers: 1️⃣ Without time pressure, users naturally engage with compelling ad content 2️⃣ The uncertainty paradoxically reduces skip-reflex behavior 3️⃣ Quality ads now have a fair chance at capturing viewer attention 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 The most powerful product decisions often involve removing features, not adding them. Sometimes, less cognitive load leads to better user engagement and revenue outcomes. When was the last time an ad made you forget why you came to YouTube in the first place? #ProductManagement #UserExperience #ProductStrategy #DigitalAdvertising #UXDesign #ProductThinking #YouTube #ProductGrowth #UserBehavior #ProductDecisions

9️⃣ ideas for building UX influence ↴ 1. Expose invisible losses. ↳ Quantify how bad UX silently erodes time, trust, and revenue, and tie it to decision-makers’ KPIs. 2. Create an "almost failure" archive. ↳ Document close calls where UX saved the day, then share it in critical conversations. 3. Position UX as a survival strategy. ↳ Frame UX as the antidote to user churn and competitive irrelevance. 4. Redesign a competitor’s product. ↳ Show how they’re winning users you could’ve kept with better UX. 5. Pitch UX as a "shortcut to trust". ↳ Illustrate how seamless design reduces skepticism faster than any sales pitch. 6. Flip success metrics into pain points. ↳ Turn “our app is sticky” into “users are stuck navigating it.” 7. Make user friction visceral. ↳ Host live sessions where stakeholders are forced to complete frustrating user tasks themselves. 8. Show the ripple effect.  ↳ Map how a small UX improvement impacts efficiency across the entire org. 9. Ask “what would a user fire us for?” ↳ Surface the unspoken dealbreakers hiding in your product experience. ↓ ↓ ↓ ✍️ If you like this, you’d probably like my newsletter where I share with 6,500+ UX pros 2 short, tactical reads a week on growing your impact, influence and UX career. You’re welcome to join us (link in the comments)

if you're curious about Dark UX, read this. Recently I sent out a newsletter to my followers about this flask disguised as an ankle monitor. In it I broke down the "Dark UX Tactics at play" 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗽𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Using the facade of something to hide what’s underneath. You see this when you see elaborate stories of drug cartels smuggling goods in tires, inside the void of hollowed out objects, or a bag that has a false bottom, revealing a hidden compartment beneath. 𝗕𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆: In this case, it's "this person's already being monitored by law enforcement, we don't need to worry about them misbehaving." Perfect bait and switch, and everyone fell for it. In this case, the user is wielding "Law Enforcement" as the authority to say "don't look at me, i've already gotten my ass beat." Ah. Classic. That's when my friend Justin Ranton, UXC and I sparked a conversation about Dark UX vs Subversive UX. They're both forms of manipulation, but with different drivers behind the wheel. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗮𝘆 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝘁: 「“Dark UX” usually means deceptive design used by those in power to extract value from users. It’s exploitative. It hides choices, adds friction, and pushes attention in ways that serve the company, not the person using the product. The user ends up being manipulated instead of being in control. But in this case, the flask disguised as an ankle monitor flips that relationship completely. The person wearing it is the one doing the manipulating, not being manipulated. The system is the one being gamed. That’s why I wouldn’t call this Dark UX at all. I’d call it Subversive Design. It uses the same tactics you’d find in manipulative systems but turns them inside out. Dark UX takes away agency. Subversive Design gives it back. It borrows the look and feel of authority, uniforms, warning signs, the visual language of control, to move through a system without being questioned. It’s not deception to make money. It’s deception to make a point. To me, this feels closer to guerrilla art or graffiti than to UX trickery. It lives in spaces it wasn’t invited into. It works by exposing power and having fun doing it. When someone wears a flask that looks like an ankle monitor, they’re not just hiding a drink. They’re flipping a symbol of punishment into something human and funny. It’s a tiny act of rebellion, wrapped in humor and cleverness. That’s what I like about Subversive Design. It’s not about good or bad design. It’s about awareness. It takes the tools of manipulation and turns them back toward the system that built them. It reminds us that a lot of “user experience” is really about control, who has it, who doesn’t, and how design quietly reinforces that.」 --- Dark UX is survival and mastery. Subversive Design is rebellion and evolution. What's your take on it?

Last week, I almost signed up for a tool I didn’t even need. Everything felt… urgent. “Only 2 spots left.” “Offer ends in 3 minutes.” The buttons were glowing. The pressure felt real. So I almost clicked. But then I paused. And I realized something uncomfortable… It wasn’t a better product. It was better manipulation. And that’s when it hit me… We are not just designing interfaces anymore. We are shaping decisions. And in the AI era… Those decisions are being engineered at a scale we’ve never seen before. Let me be honest with you. Most users don’t even realize what’s happening. They think they are choosing. But in reality… they are being guided, nudged, and sometimes… trapped. Not by accident. By design. I’ve broken down 5 of the most dangerous UX frauds I keep seeing today. The kind that: Look smart Feel normal But silently destroy trust From fake urgency… to consent tricks… to AI-driven manipulation that adapts in real time. This is not just about “bad UX”. This is about user autonomy. If you’re a designer, founder, or building any digital product… You need to understand this. Because the line between persuasion and manipulation… is getting thinner every day. And most people are already crossing it without realizing. In this infographic, you’ll learn: What these deceptive patterns actually look like How they work behind the scenes Why are they so effective And how they impact real users If you care about building products people trust… this might change how you design forever.