Why My App Felt Sterile — And How a Single UI Change Fixed It

I realized my app felt strangely sterile. After studying onboarding flows like Duolingo’s, I discovered the missing piece: personality. And one small UI change transformed the feel of the entire app.

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Why My App Felt Sterile — And How a Single UI Change Fixed It

A small UX insight that unexpectedly made a big difference

Recently, I found myself thinking about why my app felt… sterile.

Not broken.
Not ugly.
Just lacking something — personality, warmth, energy.

It worked well, the flows were clean, and everything behaved exactly as expected.
But emotionally?
Nothing. No spark. No feeling. Just functionality.

And then I realized something important:

Usability doesn’t automatically create delight.

🔍 Studying onboarding flows

So I started digging into onboarding experiences of apps known for great product design — and one stood out immediately:

Duolingo.

Their onboarding is playful, friendly, inviting.
It makes you want to continue.
Even something as simple as the font contributes to that feeling.

That’s when it clicked:

If the brand feels too “serious,” the app feels sterile.
If the UI feels too “formal,” the user feels less engaged.

I wasn’t missing functionality…
I was missing emotion.

🎨 The experiment: a more playful font

So I decided to try something extremely simple:

➡️ Change the onboarding font to something more playful.

That’s it.
No redesign.
No rethinking the whole flow.
Just adding a little humanity and softness to the visuals.

And wow — the difference was immediate.

The onboarding suddenly felt more:

  • friendly
  • personal
  • less robotic
  • more aligned with what I want Bondo to be

Sometimes one small design detail shifts the entire emotional tone.

📸 Here’s what it looks like now

Onboarding screenshot

💭 Final thought

It’s funny how often the sterile feeling in an app doesn’t come from what’s missing —
but from what’s too rigid.

Design isn’t only about clarity or usability.
It’s also about emotion, playfulness, and creating a feeling that the product actually has a bit of life in it.

This tiny UI change taught me something important:

Sometimes improving the user experience isn’t about adding more.
It’s about letting the app feel more human.

And in my opinion…
it’s already looking much better. 😅