Each nice product begins like a love story. You fall for it quick. It’s clear. It’s easy. It simply will get you. The buttons are the place you anticipate, the options really feel made for people, and the copy is so pleasant it might hug you.

Then, one morning, you open it once more — and it’s unrecognizable. There’s a “Strive Premium” banner that received’t go away. The structure modified in a single day. The options you used each day now conceal behind paywalls. You spend 5 minutes simply making an attempt to do what used to take 5 seconds.

That’s not unhealthy luck. That’s enshittification — the gradual means of a product promoting its soul, one UX choice at a time.

The Lifecycle of Digital Rot

Cory Doctorow’s definition is lifeless easy:

1. Platforms begin off good to customers.
2. Then they worsen to make enterprise clients blissful.
3. Lastly, they screw over everybody to feed shareholders.

What he didn’t spell out is who truly does the screwing over. Spoiler: it’s not the boardroom. It’s us — designers, PMs, engineers — the individuals who execute “only one extra progress experiment.”

That “small change” to extend engagement? That’s the place it begins. A brand new autoplay characteristic right here, a “you may additionally like” part there. Nobody means hurt — it’s all within the title of “enhancing the person expertise.” Till sooner or later, that very same expertise has been optimized into oblivion.

UX: The Light Hand That Pushes You Off a Cliff

Designers don’t get up pondering, “Let’s manipulate thousands and thousands at the moment.” However we’re educated to worship the numbers.

Spotify’s crew most likely didn’t got down to enrage customers by forcing its AI DJ and “new expertise” feed on them. However when retention dips, the algorithm wins. So design bends — once more. Abruptly, your once-minimal music app appears to be like like TikTok with guitars.

Instagram didn’t imply to betray photographers. However the information stated Reels carry out higher, so photographs have been quietly buried. The irony? The app that made simplicity cool now appears to be like like a slot machine that screams “LOOK AT ME” in each path.

And Airbnb? It used to really feel like staying in somebody’s quirky dwelling. Now it looks like paying a company host $400 to strip your mattress and take out the trash. The UI displays that shift — fewer people, extra transactions.

The Design of Betrayal

Enshittification at all times begins with good intentions. Somebody provides a “nudge” to extend engagement. Somebody exams a brand new upsell modal. Somebody “simplifies” the UI by hiding the unsubscribe hyperlink below three layers of grey.

Earlier than you recognize it, the product is a maze of darkish patterns designed to extract time, consideration, and cash — not present worth.

Reddit’s redesign was a masterclass on this. It took a tough however trustworthy web site and turned it right into a mobile-first content material mine. Every thing’s cleaner, smoother, friendlier — and only a bit extra manipulative. The product didn’t evolve; it conformed to the engagement financial system.

And when customers rebelled, what did Reddit do? It doubled down. That’s the ultimate stage of enshittification: when corporations cease pretending to care what you assume.

The Aesthetics of Enshittification

There’s a definite look to enshittified design. You may spot it immediately:

• Enormous “Proceed” buttons that result in upsells.
• Microscopic “No thanks” textual content in 30% opacity grey.
• A homepage that screams “Look how a lot we care” — whereas quietly stealing your information.
• Countless scrolls that deal with your consideration as a harvestable crop.

It’s the aesthetic of infinite progress wrapped in soothing pastels. The type of UI that feels calming whereas it robs you blind.

Even Figma — the darling of the design world — isn’t immune. What started as a refreshing, community-driven design software now pushes AI integrations, plug-in monetization, and company lock-ins. The neighborhood area that after empowered creatives now feels more and more industrial — enshittification with a gradient.

Designers: The Center Managers of Digital Decay

Let’s cease pretending: we constructed this mess. We made the “settle for all cookies” modals that prepare folks to click on blindly. We made the onboarding carousels that promote monitoring as “personalization.” We made the misleading free trials that invoice you after seven days.

Designers love to speak about empathy, however empathy with out boundaries is simply obedience. Each time we stated “I don’t make enterprise choices, I simply execute them,” we handed our craft to individuals who don’t care about customers in any respect.

The Day Design Loses Its Sou

You may really feel the second it occurs. You’re in a gathering. Somebody suggests a characteristic you recognize will make the product worse, however it’ll improve retention by 2%. You hesitate, then inform your self, “It’s not my name.”

That’s the day you cease being a designer and begin being a decorator for capitalism.

And but — it’s comprehensible. Nobody will get promoted for saying no. Nobody will get applause for safeguarding the person from the corporate. However that’s precisely what moral design must be: a type of quiet riot.

The Enterprise Case for Ruining Every thing

Right here’s the sick joke: enshittification is nice enterprise. It actually does increase engagement. It actually does earn a living. Till, after all, customers go away.

Fb enshittified itself into irrelevance. Twitter enshittified itself into X. Netflix is midway there, swapping curation for algorithmic sludge. You may nearly watch it occur in actual time — the gradual demise of platforms that after impressed belief.

The web doesn’t die from lack of innovation. It dies from demise by optimization.

The Unenshittification Playbook

There’s a manner out — however it’s slower, quieter, and fewer worthwhile.

• Design for belief, not traps. If customers must guess what’s actual, you’ve already misplaced.
• Cease treating friction as failure. Generally the perfect UX is the one which lets folks go away simply.
• Prioritize dignity over information. Simply because you may monitor it doesn’t imply you must.
• Say no extra typically. You’ll be unpopular in conferences. You’ll sleep higher at evening.

The way forward for design isn’t extra personalization, extra AI, or extra “engagement.” It’s honesty. Simplicity. Interfaces that respect the person’s time and a spotlight as one thing sacred — not one thing to monetize.

The Last Irony

Enshittification is designed — methodically, fantastically, professionally. It’s not chaos. It’s craftsmanship in service of greed.

And that’s why designers are the one ones who can undo it.

As a result of if we are able to design the rot, we are able to additionally design its remedy.
We will construct instruments that don’t manipulate. Merchandise that don’t betray. Platforms that keep good even after they develop.

It simply takes one uncomfortable phrase in a gathering: “Why?”

That’s how enshittification begins — and the way it ends.