Article · 8 min read

Familiar vs Novel

Jon Yablonski · Laws of UX Free Intermediate

This is the honest counterweight to just copying everything: it lays out exactly when breaking a convention earns its keep and when it only costs you. The author draws the line with concrete cases (Arc's sidebar, Perplexity's answer-first search) so you can tell a purposeful difference from a random one. Read it as the boundary on copying, so your product stays learnable where it should and distinct where it matters.

• Copy the plumbing (navigation, forms, checkout) where users just want to get through, and save novelty for the one or two moments that are your actual edge.
• Novelty only pays when it makes an action faster, clearer, or more memorable, not when it is different for its own sake.
• Any deviation from a convention needs real user testing behind it, because a surprising pattern quietly costs trust when it has no payoff.