Empty States

Issue

There’s always some issue or another that calls for an empty state. Most of these result from someone adding people in a workflow, and then inexplicably removing them all in the review stage – probably an edge case.

Approach

• Because these require a deliberate and somewhat unlikely action, there’s some room for creativity
• Studies at my company have found that users appreciate a bit of humor or “whimsy” to break up the monotony of the day – as long as it’s used at an appropriate time

Solution

• Using humor and puns crafted to match the situation where each empty state appears, I added a human touch to an otherwise boring task
• Humor doesn’t mean silliness – each message conveys the issue that’s trigged it and how it can be fixed

Outcome

It’s hard to know who’s seen these or how they felt, but I like knowing they’re out there – little Easter eggs waiting to be found.