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05 · Attention
Earn attention. Don’t harvest it.
A notification is an interruption with a cost. Spend it carefully.
The idea
Defaults should protect focus, and urgency should mean something when it appears.
People have enough tabs open in their heads. Let them choose a useful cadence, bundle low-value updates, and make silence a supported state instead of a setting to discover later.
Try this
01
Start with fewer notifications and let people opt into more.
02
Use timing and language that match the actual importance of the message.
03
Offer a simple pause, digest, or quiet-hours control.
Field notes
See it in practice
A few places to
start looking.
B Work software
Basecamp
A collaboration tool that has long made “less noise” a product decision rather than a productivity hack.
Notice this → Attention is a resource worth returning.
A Creative network
Are.na
A slower place to collect and connect ideas, with a visual language that leaves room for thought.
Notice this → A feed can make space instead of filling it.