In the fall of 2017, one of my roommates mentioned a new astrology app, Co-Star, that lets you connect with your friends and compare birth charts. She joked that maybe if the four of us living in the apartment downloaded it, we would better know how to navigate each other’s personalities and habits. I’m sorry to say, it didn’t work out that way. But I was quickly fascinated by this simple interface that took on the complexity of the heavens in order to give me a single sentence of advice a day. Using artificial intelligence, a small team of astrologers and some basic design principles, Co-Star’s designers have proven that more is not always better. In this article, we will specifically explore Ockham’s Principle, the Pareto Principle and the Aesthetic-Usability Effect, and how we might be more like Co-Star to streamline our works.
Introduction
I was used to reading the latest teen zine or celebrity gossip magazines that warned Geminis of their trouble in making decisions or Cancers of their tendency to cry over everything. My experience with Co-Star, however, was the first time I discovered my birth chart and the first time my horoscope wasn’t about me just being a hot-headed Aries. I was intrigued by the super simplistic, grey-scale interface and the Artificial Intelligence-driven content. Opening up the app felt like a moment of peace each day. Years later, as the app has grown up, it has continued to change for the better. The extremely minimalistic interface has slimmed down and simplified, but feels like it is giving you more content than ever before.
In his talk at the Design Matters 19 conference, Andrew Lu, Co-Star’s Lead Designer, talks about the design of the app and what the Co-Star Astrology Society is all about. He says “people flock to Co-Star because the existing spaces are too loud, superficial and artificial and we are giving them a space that is thoughtful, collective and deep.” While he does not explicitly reveal the secrets of their design success, Lu emphasizes several times that Co-Star is a space that is different from the other noise in the world. Lu’s discussion about Co-Star’s mission made me want to explore some similar principles to use in my design work in order to cut out the excess and avoid over designing.
Co-Star Interface, April 2018 (image: Dazed Digital)
Co-Star Interface, July 2021
As I write this in 2021, what is now called the Co-Star Astrology Society is the number one astrology app in the Apple App Store, a title it has held for the past three years. Founded by Banu Guler and joined by Anna Kopp and Ben Weitzman, they launched their initial iOS app in October 2017. It was so successful that within two years, their team had raised over $6 million from investors, expanded into the Android app store, and now have over 20 million downloads worldwide.
What’s made the app so successful? Once they get users onto the app with the promise of deep-cutting horoscopes, which feel like something only your closest friends could say, they keep them by providing an experience no one else can give. So few spaces, and even fewer social media platforms, give you a place that is meant to just feel connected to others. The no-frills design helps users focus on what matters most; the content.
Aesthetic-Usability Effect
In their book Universal Principles of Design; William Lidwell, Kritina Holden and Jill Butler, describe the Aesthetic-Usability Effect as “a phenomenon in which people perceive more-aesthetic designs as easier to use than less-aesthetic designs — whether they are or not.” As they continue describing the principle, the writers say that this idea is very important to pay attention to, because most people’s first impressions affect how and if they will use the product in the future. How many times have people purchased one product over another, simply because the packaging was “better” or more expensive. When users really love the design of something, they are more likely to form bonds with those products, rather than products they don’t like or like as much; eg. naming a car. Aesthetics will only keep people around for so long. If a product doesn’t work, eventually users will move on to the next new thing. Design is best when it “uses aesthetics to support and enhance the content and functionality of the product.”
Ockham’s Razor
Named after William of Ockham, a 14th-century logician and theologian, he stated “entities should not be multiplied without necessity.” This was not an original idea and had been stated by many others (such as Aristotle, Newton and Einstein), although he mentioned it so often and sharply, this is now credited to him. Designers have adopted this idea, eliminating unneeded elements in order to streamline products. Universal Principles of Design gives us another way to look at this concept in a more modern way stating “excess elements decrease a product’s efficiency and increase unanticipated consequences.” The more unnecessary options we give to users, the larger likelihood of confusion or error. This can affect how often people use our product, if they continue to use it at all. Designers need to be aware of every element that is added while remaining diligent in removing as much as possible, without compromising functionality.
Aryan Indraksh, a UX designer and writer, discusses this law in his article “Occam’s Razor: How did Steve Jobs Follow the Law of Parsimony at Apple?” He describes Jobs as someone who refused to buy what he deemed unnecessary, including furniture. Indraksh continues describing Job’s philosophy by saying,
“What he really did was take everything complex and strip it to the point and there was nothing left to be taken away… We all know that Apple has been the first major electronics player to get rid of floppy disk reader, CD/DVD reader, etc. Steve Jobs wasn’t thinking of adding everything his customer would need. He was focused on removing everything that most of his customers won’t need as they just made things complex.”
The Pareto Principle
The Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 Rule, is the idea that 80 percent of causes are brought on by 20 percent of variables. This idea is attributed to Vifredo Pareto, an economist who noticed 80 percent of Italy’s land was owned by 20 percent of the population (Lidwell 14). This idea feels vague at first, but the 80/20 way of thinking can help with efficiency and minimize design bloat. When people need to make the most of their time, they are not going to spend it on features that are not being used. In order to get the best bang for the buck, individuals are going to focus their efforts where there are maximum results.
In his article The Pareto Principle And UX — Why Should You Care?, Steven Douglas writes about a friend leaving the Microsoft suite for Google. He says “Google Docs allowed Joe to focus on his creativity and doing work as opposed to formatting. He was unable to do work in Office because of prioritising the wrong thing and a departure from focus. That is on Microsoft. If they knew what their users were doing and what they wanted, they might have been able to keep Joe as a customer.” He argues that the 80/20 Rule helps keep designers humble and keeps us from creating unneeded features that just become “experience rot.”
Co-Star’s Design Principles in Action
Co-Star’s designers have stuck to their originating ideas and design principles, which gained their initial success and since maintained dominance in the market. Once they enticed users to try their app with the promise of deep cutting horoscopes, which felt like something only your closest friends could say, they kept them by providing an experience that no one else could give. There is no question that they have a very successful design and have proficiently imposed the Aesthetic-Usability Effect. But even more than that, they have created a space that functions as well as it looks. The creators have created a space that is efficient. It gets users to their end goal with minimal clicks or confusion. If the app weren’t as polished, then it wouldn’t have stayed at the top of its competition since its market debut. Even in a category that has fewer contenders, they are dominating the space. As a comparison, in 2019, The Pattern and Sanctuary (two other major astrology apps) had fewer than 5,000 reviews combined. Meanwhile, Co-Star had more than 50,000.
As they have undergone redesigns and refocused efforts in additional areas since their inception, Co-Star has never lost its uniqueness. Looking at the Pareto Principle, the Co-Star Astrology Society has paid attention to what their users are searching for on a daily basis, and have put the most accessed information in the daily snapshot on the usere’s new homepage. It is broken down into sections so you can easily see your “advice” for the day, and has put more focus on how you compare with your friends. Overall, the app content is more verbose, but they use white space and black and white visuals to break up the text and give you time to process what is going before proceeding forward.
In this most recent redesign, the team really was able to take Ockham’s Razor into account when curating the app experience. Designers were able to cut some of the fat out, favoring simpler navigation and fewer clickable elements. By changing some of their iconography around, they have elevated their look to feel more organized and timeless. Speaking about the future of Co-Star, Lu says “it’s very much a ‘new’ product in the questions we grapple with and how we plan and develop features. One thing I’ve found useful is to challenge your own biases about what people want or need, and start with no assumptions” (Lombardo). He continues to say that the team sometimes over-focuses on aspects they think they will want as “astro-nerds,’ but then steps back to think about the interactions they have had with users and, ultimately, what the users want. This is a great reminder that there is always a chance to step back and reconsider if an element is really needed or just there to boost the design ego.
Closing
I know that as I have grown as a designer, I have learned much about editing my designs and streamlining my creative process. That’s what I enjoy so much about these three principles, continuing the process of learning to simplify and streamline. Moving forward as designers, we can all strive to be more like Co-Star Astrology Society, their app is a shining example of what a creative team can do when applying a minimalistic design to a complex subject. Their design language also shows that an app’s design does not need to be flashy in order to attract a strong and dedicated user base. It is that user base we are designing for, not ourselves. Using the Aesthetic-Usability Effect, Ockham’s Razor and the Pareto Principle, we can set ourselves up for success and scrutinize our designs in order to grow and improve. If we’ve learned one thing, simple design doesn’t mean meaningless design. When we shoot for the stars, who knows where we could end up.
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