Blog 1- Useful Notification or Just Visual Clutter

During P6, I encountered a user confusion issue caused by the lack of a clear visual notification indicating where a post had been added. This was especially problematic due to multiple post-like features in the app, making navigation unclear. It got me thinking about how more sophisticated apps address similar challenges.

There were several ways I considered addressing this: auto-navigating the user to the newly added post or leaving a subtle breadcrumb trail indicating its location.

Instagram offers a clever solution with its timed and location-specific notification system. In the desktop view, the notification feature, represented by a heart icon on the left side, displays a pop-up bubble showing new likes, tags, and follow requests since the last login. After a few seconds, this pop-up shrinks to a red dot, maintaining a visual cue without cluttering the interface.

The brilliance of this timed reduction lies in its ability to manage multiple features that can generate notifications, such as messages, which are arguably more important. By minimizing the notification bubble, Instagram prevents the notifications feature from visually competing with other critical areas of the app, creating a more balanced and intuitive user experience.