← Back to Newsletters

🦄 2025’s First Look: Multi-State Buttons, Preloaded Fonts & UX Retention Hacks

January 1, 2025

Hey 👋

Welcome to the first edition of 2025 — and what a year it’s shaping up to be for Unicorn Club! 🚀

This year, we’re going bigger and better than ever: live events are on the horizon, and we’re super excited to finally launch some exclusive Unicorn Club merch. Stay tuned because you won’t want to miss all the exciting things we’ve got planned.

Thanks for kicking off the adventure with us — let’s make 2025 incredible together!

Enjoy 🦄 - Adam at Unicorn Club.

Keep up with Tech in 5 Minutes 🚀

Get the most important tech, science, & coding news in a free daily email. Read by +1,250,000 software engineers and tech workers. 📩

Stay updated with breaking news in minutes
Try it out for free, unsubscribe anytime ✨

🧑‍💻 Front-end

Multi-State Buttons

There are traditional ways for a user to pick one-option-from-many. The classics beeing a select or a group of type="radio" elements.

A Game Show for Web Developers

Contestants need to bring the dev knowledge... or face the heat!

Is It “Frontend” or “Front-End” or “Front End”?

All three terms are widely used to describe the same concept: the client-facing portion of a website or application that users interact with directly.

🧠 UX

How Linkedin Increased Notification Opt-in Rates by 500%

This user retention case study shows the problem with most notifications and how Linkedin reframed their prompts to reengage 5x more users.

Redesigning Alerts for Life or Death

As a UX designer focusing on critical communication systems, I was troubled by how easily I’d dismissed a potentially life-saving alert.

How Duolingo, Nike, and Amazon use rewards to keep you hooked

Why Duolingo turns streaks into addictive habits while Amazon’s badges gather dust

Why Round Buttons Feel Better 🔘

According to psychology research, humans have a natural preference for rounded shapes. This is because angular shapes activate areas of the brain associated with negative emotions, like danger. Rounded buttons in UI design make a product's interface feel friendlier and more approachable—which is probably why you see them so often!

Learn more →

🏎️ Performance

Preloading fonts for web performance with link rel="preload"

This short HTML snippet added to the head of your page, can make a substantial improvement to both perceived and measured performance.

🎨 Design

The Design Leader Dilemma

Design leaders are expected to deliver the impossible. Instead of trying, we need to redefine our role from implementor to enabler.

🛠️ Resources + Tools

Subatomic - The Complete Guide To Design Tokens

Many design system teams struggle to establish/evolve a solid design token architecture.

🗓️ Upcoming Events

Check out these events.

♿️ Building Accessible Experiences

February 25-27, 2025 - Virtual Conference

Join axe-con 2025, the world’s largest digital accessibility conference, for a unique experience focused on building, testing, and maintaining accessible digital experiences. Learn from 75+ expert presenters and connect with accessibility advocates and allies.

See Event →

💬 How to Develop Strong PM Communication Skills

January 17, 2025 - Virtual (Zoom)

Learn how to improve your communication skills as a PM with insights from Satish Mummareddy, a seasoned product leader with 20+ years of experience.

See event →

🌐 Vue.js Nation Conference

January 29-30, 2025 - Virtual (Online)

The biggest Vue.js conference in the world, delivering quality education to the global community. Network with thousands of attendees and learn directly from the Vue.js Core Team and leading community experts.

See event →

🧠 ConveyUX

February 25-27, 2025 - Seattle & Online

ConveyUX 2025 dates are set for February 25-27. We look forward to hosting our UX colleagues in-person in Seattle and virtually. Registration is open.

See event →

🔥 Promoted Links

Share with 2,500+ readers, book a classified ad.

Make a product design portfolio that lands dream jobs

Learn how to create a masterful UX portfolio for job applications and portfolio reviews. Get 15% off with code UNICORNCLUB.

Support the newsletter

If you find Unicorn Club useful and want to support our work, here are a few ways to do that:

📨 Recommend friends to subscribe

📢 Sponsor or book a classified ad

☕️ Buy me a coffee

Thanks for reading ❤️
Adam from Unicorn Club
Follow me on X or BlueSky

Ship Better Interfaces.

Practical guidance for product teams — Actionable habits you can apply every week.