Beyond functionality: Building products people love to use

Fast Company

4 days ago

One of the most important realizations I've had in my time leading product and design at Rilla is that 'delight' is the heartbeat of a great product. No longer just a nice-to-have, delight is what separates a product that works from a product that people genuinely enjoy using. This is especially true in the era of AI, where functionality is rarely a differentiator.
EVERY APP 'JUST WORKS'
In 2025, AI tools have made functionality table stakes; every product more or less works. The bar for performance has been normalized. From AI code assistants like Cursor to design and prototyping tools like Figma Make, teams can build, design, and iterate at a pace that would've been unthinkable a few years ago. Transcription models like Whisper now produce near-perfect transcripts in real time. Chatbots built on GPT-4o or Claude can answer support queries, onboard users, or summarize meetings with almost no setup. Tasks that once took weeks now happen in days or even hours.
Speed and capability are no longer bottlenecks. As a result, the differentiator isn't what a product does, but how it makes people feel while doing it. In this new landscape, delight isn't a bonus feature. It's the foundation of product love.
This isn't a new idea. The most beloved products have always felt like someone cared deeply about every detail. Jony Ive, reflecting on Apple's design philosophy at the 2025 Stripe Sessions conference, said, 'I believe that when somebody unwrapped that box and took out that cable, and they thought, 'Somebody gave a shit about me,' I think that's a spiritual thing… It did genuinely come from a place of love, and from care.'
In the past, that level of care sat on top of core functionality. Today, in a world where building things is becoming easier, it's what makes products stick.
1. Walk In Users' Shoes (Literally)
In my experience, delight rarely comes from wireframes or metrics alone. Rather, it comes from feeling what users feel. That means looking past mocks and dashboards and into the messy, emotional, very human experience of actually using the product. This is why I encourage our engineers and designers to join support calls, build a personal customer advisory group to test ideas with, and even shadow users in person to truly understand their experience.
You can't capture the sigh after the fourth loading spinner in a survey. You can't measure the hesitation before a confusing click. But by being close to your users, you can hear the catch in someone's voice as they hit a wall, or the quiet 'ohhh' when they finally get something to work. These are the moments that teach you why your product matters (or doesn't).
2. Delight As The Antidote To Bloat
At Rilla, we ship fast, experiment often, and use AI where it helps. But in a world buzzing with AI features, it's tempting to pile on every new capability. Chasing delight helps us stay disciplined. It forces us to ask: Is this actually helping someone? If a feature adds complexity without clarity, it's noise.
True delight is often rooted in simplicity—the kind that makes it instantly obvious what the goal is, and what happens when you get there. It shows up when every element has a purpose, when the interface feels obvious. When people don't just use the product, they get it. That kind of clarity builds trust. And trust is what makes people come back.
3. Turn Chores Into Moments Of Joy
Some parts of a product are expected: forms, checklists, filters. They're not flashy. But they don't have to be painful.
Delight lives in the details: a playful micro-interaction, a smart autofill, a helpful nudge that shows someone's thinking ahead for you. These touches turn a routine task into a moment of progress. The shift is subtle but powerful. It turns 'I have to do this' into 'That was smoother than I expected,' which turns into 'I kind of enjoy doing this.'
When people feel capable, they feel good. And when a product makes someone feel good about themselves, not just the tool, that emotion is sticky. It's why they tell their teammates. It's why they come back.
A NEW FRONTIER FOR CRAFT AND CONNECTION
We're at a rare moment. Thanks to AI, the scaffolding is handled: the boilerplate, the routing logic, the endless setup. That means our time can shift from building what's functional to crafting what's meaningful for the people we're serving.
The real opportunity in this new era isn't just speed. It's space. Space to care more. To notice more. To build with empathy and intentionality. When we obsess over the tiny moments—when someone smiles, breathes easier, or just feels understood—that's where product magic happens.
Let's use this space well. Not just to build faster, but to connect deeper. To move beyond tools that 'work,' and toward experiences that feel personal, joyful, and unforgettable.