We have optimized products to be frictionless. In the process, we have removed what makes them recognizable.

What people remember are not features. It is signals: simple, repeatable moments you can feel. The products that stick are not the smoothest ones. They are the ones you can recognize instantly, through behavior, language, and character.

Nicole argues that sameness is not an aesthetic problem. It is a design decision made thousands of times, in timing, empty states, transitions, and edge cases, wherever teams chose seamlessness over character. Designing for recognition means making deliberate choices in exactly those moments, and building the internal case for why that extra layer of work is worth it.