Journal

Recently I encountered a frustrating problem while watching Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King on Amazon Prime.

My girlfriend and I paused the film at my place in the third act. Then later at her place we tried to resume, but in order to get back to where we were we had to fast forward using her TV remote.

We found ourselves waiting for what felt like an eternity. Turns out fast forwarding through hours of film is not a very pleasant user experience if you're using Amazon Prime on a television.

It was so slow we gave up and ditched the film altogether.

The experience inspired me to make a video which I posted to my Instagram, Tik Tok and LinkedIn account.

The video has since gained thousands of views and received various comments with some people suggesting I use a laptop while watching on the tv, so I can navigate the timeline from the laptop, and others suggesting they're pirates and have no need for subscriptions.

On LinkedIn I added the following message to the video.

"Sign of poor design:

Your customer wants something you have. They can see you have it. They even interact, demonstrating a willingness to engage.

And yet, they end up bouncing and going somewhere else.

Why?

Because you make it so hard to get the thing they want!

Maybe it’s the interface, maybe it’s your messaging, maybe it’s both.

Point is, you lose people when you unintentionally place what they desire just out of their reach. And you also damage your brand!

The unnecessary work required to close the gap creates frustration and friction.

To make matters worse, the customer senses the proximity of what they’re looking for and as a result winds up feeling resentful towards your brand for ruining the fairytale ending to their customer journey.

Now they have to plod on and extend an already exhausting search for solutions, all because you didn’t consider closing the gap with a more thoughtful user experience."

Yesterday on LinkedIn I officially announced that I'm relaunching Optimal Grip. Here's what I shared:

"I started Optimal Grip in 2024, but put it on the back burner to pursue opportunities with other businesses I couldn't turn down.

Now, after a year and a half of leading product design at Hailr, I'm circling back to the dream of Optimal Grip with more experience, insight, and skill, not to mention 16.2k+ followers I gained on Instagram over the last twelve months after I took the risk of actually believing in myself for a change.

The lessons I've learned from social media have not only made me a better communicator, but a better designer and problem solver. It's these hard-won lessons combined with the insights I've gained from years of creative graft (including many dark nights of the soul) that I'm so determined to finally put into practice with Optimal Grip.

Is the website perfect? No. Are my case studies watertight? Probably not. Do I know everything required to start my own design business? Hell no. But if there's anything I've learnt from the last year of yapping on social media it's this: there is extraordinary power in the humble act of embracing version 1 and putting your faith in the unstoppable force of daily, relentless momentum. Quality takes care of itself if you keep showing up and put in the reps, which is precisely what I'll be doing with this new venture.

There's also power in shedding the concern for what other people are doing and the fear of what they think. Embrace the wild possibility that the very things you're self conscious about, the parts of yourself you tend to hide, are what's going to make you stand out and define your value."