10 excellent examples of micro-UX

They’re the little pieces of functionality, copy or visual design which make all the difference. They are also often what make up the hallowed ‘surprise and delight’ and can take a product from being useful to being loved. Here are some of our favourites — some classics, others up and coming…

Doodle’s copy and paste first row

Everyone’s favourite low-fi meeting arranger Doodle has a great little feature that allows you to copy the time you first include for a series of suggested dates, to all subsequent dates. You can literally hear the user testing session where this came up…

Google Inbox’s compose button

Isn’t necessarily solving a massive problem like some of the other examples in this list, but the cute spin on this button gets me every time. I swear i’ve sent emails just to see it dance.

The Noun Project’s download button

Simple but excellent and full of personality.

WhatsApps QR code scanner

Potentially the most (only?!) useful implementation of a QR code scanner we’ve ever seen. Not only did this make linking accounts on your phone and desktop an absolute dream, the QR code recognition software is the fastest in the west.

CityMapper x 2

It sometimes seems like these guys invented much of what we talk about — but their end of screen animations and the catapult functionality are still leaders in this kind of fun, tongue in cheek content. If nothing else, it’s impossible not to love the detail of the moon’s face being the citymapper logo!

Photoshop’s new document clipboard sizing

Perhaps a surprise entry for everyone’s favourite photo editor, but if you spend your days combing the internet for pictures of cats to crop then this feature is a lifesaver. By automatically detecting the size of the image on your clipboard and setting up an artboard in the same dimensions the folks at Adobe must have saved about a million years worth of designer time…

Pinterest’s image shortcuts

Simply by long tapping an image on Pinterest you get given the most popular actions straight away. Clever solution, especially for someone who’s only using one thumb…

Uber’s split fare

You could call out any number of Uber’s innovative and brilliant features, but the simplicity of the split fare button is quite astounding. The amount of business that this generates must be staggering. When something’s easier than cash, you know you’re onto a winner.

Twitter’s Like button

Nothing like a cute popping heart to encourage you to engage with the Twitterverse…

Instagram’s original image tap and hold

The jury’s out about who implemented this first, but if you’re editing a photo on Instagram you only need to tap on the image to see the original. A useful feature to see the effect of your various filters.