Digital Insights

I bet that subject line made you think this email was going to be about the importance of focusing on usability. But actually, we shouldn't be.Too many UX designers I meet are obsessed with making things as seamless and streamlined as possible. That’s great—up to a point. But usability isn't our entire job. In fact, focusing too much on usability can make an experience feel sterile, even soulless.Let’s take a slot machine as an example. If you handed a slot machine over to the average UX designer, they’d probably strip it down to its most minimal form: no flashing lights, no spinning reels—just a plain screen that instantly tells you if you won or lost. Maybe it wouldn’t even require you to press a button! It could just detect when you put in money and deliver the result instantly.And yet, we all know that’s not how slot machines work. Because they’re not just about usability. They’re about anticipation, excitement, and emotional engagement. The flashing lights, the spinning reels, the suspense—they all play