User education like Pokémon Evolutions
When people think about user education in products, they're usually thinking about a certain set of UI patterns. In some cases, these patterns can be useful. But in most other cases, patterns are overused and inappropriately applied to many situations. They quickly become anti-patterns.
I illustrated this slippery slope by drawing these "patterns" as if they were Pokémon evolutions .You know, when a seemingly harmless pattern can transform into a formidable beast.
Carouhell> Autopuh-lays> Sideshow
From carousels to autoplay videos and lengthy slideshows, we frequently see products increasingly trying to deliver attention-grabbing content. The more aggressive and upfront these things become, the less appealing they are.
Cooltip > Drooltips > Encroachmarks
The occasional tooltip can be useful, especially if it appears in direct response to a user's action. But they can quickly grow out of control. Sometimes they come in packages, in the form of instructions, or bundled together as a blocking layer called "carriage marks." These things force someone to memorize UI instructions without addressing the underlying problems.
Chat-o-the-wisp > Chatling > Bantershee
Many different plugins make it easier for businesses to add customer service bots to their websites that float at the bottom of the user's screen. While exposing an entry point to a help agent might get customers to information more quickly, these things have evolved to proactively send messages.
Peek at the cookie > Cookie sheet > Eat the cookie
We want to make sure people are aware of websites that want to use cookies to track web activity. However, these cookie notices are requiring consent to the detriment of all other content. Navigate to https://bda.org/ on your mobile device, for example, and check the resulting prompt.
Overlay > Overload
And finally, overlaps. Easy to implement, but so easy to lose sight of until they all suddenly collide at the same time. There isn't always an intermediate state.
