One Year Designing at WhatsApp

WhatsApp designs and builds its product with specific principles in mind. These principles are at the core of the decision-making process. Here are some examples of these shared values:

• The interface should feel native to the device the person is using
• The app should be lightweight and require as little storage as possible
• The interface should be simple
• User actions and animations should be quick to respond
• Features should provide obvious utility so they require little introduction

• When working on Facebook, sometimes a designer is tasked with introducing a new feature. This can be challenging because Facebook already has many useful features. One technique they use is alerting people to the new features they might find value in.
• WhatsApp approaches this problem in a different pragmatic way. They try to design and build features that are obviously useful. If the feature needs explanation, it’s not ready.