9 design details I ❤ about Medium

On why I’ve been able to write every week

I’ve been writing here on Medium for over 15 weeks now, and it’s the first time in my life that I’ve been able to write publicly so consistently for so long.

A huge part of why is that the experience of creating on Medium’s platform is sublimely addicting. I am in love with this product. The more I use it, the more in awe I am at the focus and sophistication that must have gone into making its product and design decisions.

Here, some of the choices and details that I have noticed and admire:

1—No public “Follower” counts.

With the $1 billion rise of Tumblr, Wordpress’s response to requests for a “Follow” feature, and the sky high valuations of social networks, I assume that this question was intensely debated by the folks over at Medium:

Does building and then scaling a successful publishing community necessitate the ability to “Follow” other users? At least, right off the bat?

The ability to “Follow” content producers encourages stickiness. But, up until the beginning of May, Medium only allowed readers to “Follow” Collections—curated and thematic lists…