Reducing cognitive load in WonderBook’s early UX
Most of the people I’m designing WonderBook for aren’t writers. They’re parents, grandparents, and teachers who want to make something meaningful but don’t know where to start.
Every design choice came from that insight. The interface couldn’t assume confidence or experience. It needed to give gentle direction without feeling like a tutorial.
The first challenge
In the early prototypes, the very first screen asked users to describe their story idea. Almost everyone paused. Some stared for a few seconds before saying, "I'm not sure what to type."
The app wasn't broken, it was the design; asking for creativity too early. It dropped users into a blank space and expected them to perform. Because nothing helps creativity flow like staring at an empty text box under pressure.
Back to the drawing board
I stopped thinking about forms and started thinking about momentum. Instead of collecting data, the goal became helping someone make their first confident choice.
I kept asking myself, do people really want to sit there writing for hours? Probably not. Most people want the result, not the MFA in creative writing. What they actually want is a personalised book that feels like theirs without the effort of becoming a writer first. That question became the core of the flow design. Every screen should help them feel progress, not pressure.
That thinking led to the step-by-step builder. Each screen handles one decision at a time: pick a genre, choose a world, shape a hero. Every option has a short description and visible feedback, so people always know they’re moving forward.
Choose a genre is clear. Describe your story world is pressure.
The UI now mirrors the creative rhythm I want users to feel: calm, guided progress instead of an open void.
Keeping focus narrow
Each screen shows only what’s relevant for that moment. No long forms, no endless scrolling. Just one step, one thought.
I'm anchoring it around three small principles.
- Clear framing. Visual hierarchy and consistent placement keep eyes where they need to be.
- Helpful defaults. Randomisers and example text reduce the fear of starting from nothing.
- Visible progress. A step indicator builds a sense of completion.
The idea is to help users feel capable, not cautious.
Language as part of UX
I’ve been careful with wording. Prompts use conversational tone and simple verbs: Pick, Choose, Name, Create. Nothing confusing, no technical terms.
Even tooltips are written to reassure, not instruct.
You can change this later.
That small line tested better than any design tweak. It reduced hesitation and made people continue without overthinking. Turns out five words of reassurance beat hours of perfect visual hierarchy. Who knew?
What I'm seeing so far
- Testers complete the flow faster and with fewer pauses
- Users describe it as "easy" or "comforting" rather than "clever" (which is exactly what you want, though it hurts the designer ego a bit)
- The experience feels more like a conversation than a form
One parent said, “It feels like the app already knows what I’m trying to do.” That sentence captured the goal perfectly.
What I’m still exploring
The next stage is to apply these same ideas to editing and story preview. Real-time feedback and voice prompts will add another layer of complexity, so keeping clarity front-and-center will matter even more.
Reducing cognitive load is an ongoing process, not a single fix. Every new feature risks adding noise, so I’m treating clarity as the design system’s foundation.
Calm design creates confident users. Confidence keeps creativity alive.