A bit about Medium’s bookmarks and offline reading mode, and what might make them better

Among the reasons I decided to pay for a Medium membership, saving articles for offline reading wasn’t one. In fact, as an avid Instapaper user, I didn’t want articles saved in more than one place.

But bookmarking articles in Medium is quick and painless, so I gave it a shot. Bonus: because I do UX on TED’s own bookmarking feature, I’m always curious to see how peers are dealing with similar challenges. Now, a few weeks in, I no longer save Medium stories to Instapaper.

A little background

Bookmarking in Medium is free and generally more frictionless than saving something to a third-party service like Instapaper or Pocket: you don’t have to use a browser extension, bookmarklet, or sharing feature, and it’s much quicker: click and it’s saved, no lag. You don’t have to leave Medium to read your bookmarked stories. And bookmarked stories retain their formatting, whereas articles parsed by Instapaper or Pocket may have text, layout, and image issues.

A personalized, regularly updated home page in digest format is one perk of a Medium membership.

With with the advent of paid memberships on Medium came, among other things, offline reading of bookmarked stories. These saved stories are synced across devices just like Instapaper and Pocket. However, Instapaper is free, and there is a freemium version of Pocket. Plus, Instapaper and Pocket let you bookmark items from any site, not just Medium. However, many publications have their own bookmarking features, and I think Medium’s is better than most.

So what would make Medium’s bookmarking and offline reading better? I’ve made a list of bugs and improvements.

Fix this, improve that

Bug: stories are frequently unavailable when the app is not connected to the Internet. Bookmarked items simply won’t load. The app appears to be searching, but can’t find items.

Bug: images often don’t load when offline, leaving in their stead gray boxes containing unfilfilled hopes and dreams.

Improvement: reading position should be retained across sessions and devices. Instapaper and Pocket, for example, remember where you left off in an article and bring you to that point when you return, regardless of the device or session. This is a major annoyance: if I come back to a story, even in the same session, my position is lost and I have to figure out where I was.

Bug: when I’m in an article and I tap the bookmark icon — once to archive, twice to remove it altogether — that decision is not retained. In other words, the story remains in my reading list, regardless of the action I’ve taken within the story itself. Update: I suspect the issue is that there’s a slight delay while the request is processed, but there’s no visual indicator making that clear. For example, if I select “Remove” and wait a moment, the change to my reading list takes effect, but not if I quickly navigate away from a story.

Bug: possibly related to the issue above, when I bookmark a story, sometimes it doesn’t show up in my bookmarks list. This happens most often in the app; it’s quite frustrating when I want to read an article I know I saved and can’t find it. As with the above issue, though, if I remember to pause a moment before navigating away, the story is usually saved.

Improvement: “I like big text and I cannot lie.” Please, Medium, add a font-size widget in the app. This is an accessibility no-brainer.

Improvement: Night time is the right time for reading. A dark mode would be wonderful for the night owls among us.

Improvement: The place where you find all your bookmarks is called Reading list. Why not Your bookmarks or just Bookmarks to keep it consistent with the bookmark action?

Why does it say “Reading list” when these are my bookmarks? But, yay for Search!

Improvement: a long list of bookmarks would benefit from a search feature. This is particularly true in archives where I might want to find something I saved earlier. Update: I just received an email from Medium announcing Search in the reading list. Huzzah!

Improvement: sorting bookmarked stories would be fab. The default sort is by date saved in descending order, but I’d like to be able to sort other ways as well. For example, by reading time or number of recommends.

Improvement: as with sorting, the ability to filter items would be useful. For example, I’d like the ability to filter by topic or publication. (I consider this an icing-on-the-cake feature, not a necessity.)

Improvement: ability to save stories in folders. I have several folders in Instapaper where I archive items in a way that’s logical to me. This allows me to reference saved items later while keeping my main feed uncluttered. If not folders, tags would do the trick, too.

Which icon takes you to your bookma..er, Reading list, and which do you use to bookmark a story?

Improvement: there needs to be greater visual distinction between bookmark list and bookmark action icons. I frequently confuse the double-bookmark icon at the top of a Medium story with the bookmark icons on the left and bottom of a story. This results in an unexpected visit to my bookmarks list when what I’d intended was to bookmark a story. Labeling could also help alleviate this issue.

Improvement: offline reading should be free to all users. It’s not a feature unique to Medium, after all, and it would encourage more engagement. This could lead to more paid memberships. If Medium’s product team really feels offline reading is a premium product, then perhaps they could offer a limited version for non-paid memberships as an enticement to level up (e.g., limit the number of articles one can save, or make folders a paid option).

The bottom line

Medium’s bookmarks and offline reading mode are well executed. Buffing up a few rough spots would make them better, but certainly not worth $60 per year when services like Instapaper and Pocket can do the same for less. Good thing there are other reasons to become a Medium member!

Three weeks around New York with a plastic astronaut

A creative exercise

If you want to get funny looks from New Yorkers, place a small toy astronaut on the ground, kneel down and start taking photos of it. Bonus: you’ll also get disgusted glares from those forced to walk around you.

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Early this winter I was feeling a little blue, always a cue for me to start a little creative side project— something I can do every day with minimal effort but which stretches my brain a bit. One afternoon I had Simon and Garfunkel’s Only Living Boy in New York traipsing around my head when I saw the twins’ toy rocket ship on their dresser, one of the little astronauts peering out a porthole like a stranger in a strange land.

You take your muses where find them.

That’s how I felt, like a stranger in a strange land. A change of perspective was required. Maybe I could see my city anew, through the astronaut’s eyes. I grabbed him and stuffed him into my work bag. I set a time frame: three weeks seemed reasonable. (I think all decent projects have at least one major constraint, and time is one of the best.)

So every day for the next three weeks—21 days—I’d look for a setting that seemed worth exploring, stick the astronaut in it, and take some photos. It might sound easy, but it was actually more difficult than I anticipated.

For one thing, the astronaut is actually fairly small, about two inches tall, so without a macro lens (I used my iPhone), it was challenging to frame him properly. Also, he weighs next to nothing and he’s unstable; he’s prone to falling over on any uneven surface or with the slightest breeze.

He’s also extremely simplistic: no moving parts, one expression. Therefore, the setting, position, angle and lighting had to do all the storytelling. He was like the most one-dimensional supermodel imaginable. At first, I shot him head on, looking at us as though we, the viewers, were back in Mission Control and he was seeking guidance. That approach wore out quickly, especially given his silly little half-grin, so I had to find more dynamic ways to photograph him.

A few days into my project I got a text from my wife: “Have you seen the toy astronaut? The one that goes with the rocket? He’s missing.”

I wanted to add some drama, and I found that when I faced him away from the camera, his situation seemed more lonely and dire. Turn a happy astronaut away from you and he looks lost in an inhospitable land. Cropping was everything.

After three weeks, I’d about exhausted the limits of my imagination and my photographic skills. Still, it was fun to challenge myself creatively on something not related to work; it was also nice to see my city (with one quick stop in Florida) with fresh eyes, even if those eyes were just painted black dots on plastic. The point of any creative side project isn’t to make great art; it’s to limber up your brain and help you see things in a new way. In this sense, I think my Astronaut Project was a success.

Pursue a life beyond what’s ‘normal’

The TED Talk that changed how I saw my son

“Today I have just one request. Please don’t tell me I’m normal.” These are the first words of Faith Jegede Cole’s TED Talk, and they changed me forever.

It was December 2012, and I was struggling to come to terms with my son’s recent autism diagnosis. I came across a link to Faith’s brisk talk — I wasn’t yet part of the TED team — and I decided to see what she had to say. When I was done, I scrubbed to the beginning to watch it over again. Then I sent the link to my wife.

When your child is diagnosed with autism, you’re inundated with reports and evaluations outlining the struggles your child is going to face, how difficult their life will be and all the work you have ahead of you. You immerse yourself in a pool of deficits wondering if you’ll ever climb out again, or whether you’ll learn to swim.

But here was someone who wasn’t framing the conversation in terms of deficits. Instead, Faith was talking about her incredible brothers and how their autism made them unique and special. Here was someone saying it’s not just OK to be different, it’s better. Here was someone telling me to look at my son in a different light, to notice all his gifts and potential.

Since then, I’ve come to think of Faith’s talk as my introduction to the neurodiversity movement, which celebrates diverse minds and ways of being — and understands, as Faith says, “Everyone’s got a gift inside of us, and in all honesty, the pursuit of normality is the ultimate sacrifice of potential.”

The talk

It’s just some straight lines, some angles, and two primary colors

Or is it?

I was listening to the latest episode of 99% Invisible, Negative Space: Logo Design with Michael Bierut, which broke format in that it was simply a pleasant, intriguing discussion between host Roman Mars and Pentagram’s Michael Bierut. The podcast began with a discussion of recent presidential logos including Obama’s O, Hillary’s H, and Trump’s iconic red baseball hat.

With regard to the Hilliary logo, Bierut disclosed a funny anecdote in which he was asked to weigh in with many other designers on how bad Hillary’s logo was. The requester, however, was unaware of the fact that Bierut had designed the logo. Bierut declined.

But going deeper into the negative, widespread, and sometimes vitriolicbacklash against the Hillary logo, Bierut said, “I kind of would marvel sometimes. I’d say, ‘It’s just some straight lines, some 90 degree angles, some 45 degree angles, and two primary colors.”

Hillary Clinton's logo promises to return our nation to the greatness of late 1970s NBC. pic.twitter.com/GWlpvjlJcS

— Chris Regan (@ChrisRRegan) April 12, 2015

I’m certainly in no position to criticize Michael Bierut, one of the most esteemed identity designers in the business—deservedly so. But this felt just a tad off to me, and it struck me because I’ve heard a similar sentiment uttered by other identity designers when defending their work from widespread criticism. Essentially, they say, “It’s just a logo. Chill out.”

This argument is a bit disingenuous when one considers that—99designsaside—designers and their agencies are known for, shall we say, touting the promise of a great identity. They claim the logo tells a story. They promise it will create a deep connection with the masses. That it will build a bridge between the ethereal brand and the actual consumer.

And for their work, they charge tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, or more (again: Bierut did the Hillary logo pro bono). Logo projects span weeks or months. And no, I’m not just talking about the full identity—I mean just coming up with a single mark. They employ lofty terms to describe their work: transformational, iconic, universal.

All of which would lead one to believe that practitioners like Bierut et al hardly think a logo is just so many geometric shapes and colors. And in fact, they’re usually not. A not-insubstantial portion of my career was spent working for established branding and marketing agencies where, among other things, I got to see firsthand the process of creating identities by some of the best in the business. I witnessed the thoughtfulness, rigor, creativity and energy that went into each effort.

I know I’m nitpicking one blurb from an entire conversation, and I know Bierut believes in the transformational power of a great identity. I have the utmost respect for his ethos, insights and talent. And, in fact, I think there’s a great deal of truth in what he’s saying: People, chill out. It’s just a logo!

But it feels wrong to try to have it both ways. I mean, a logo really is just so many shapes and colors, and as someone who designs products and services, not identities, I firmly believe the experience a person has with your product or service is far more important than its logo or identity. (I’d often marvel at companies willing to spend a million dollars on a logo package, then balking at $250K for the digital services underpinning their businesses.) And yet it’s hard to refute that an iconic logo can make its mark on the cultural zeitgeist. Imagine, if you will, Nike killing its swoosh, or Apple losing its…apple.

But what do I know? I thought the Met’s relatively new identity was superb.

By the way, many also thought Hillary’s logo was perfect.

The two most important words in UX

Are you using them?

I used to joke that 50% of any UX project was anticipating and planning for edge cases — all the stuff that can take people off the happy path. I was wrong. That number should be more like 80%.
True. In any project, I’ve found that designing the desired flow is a snap compared to the myriad edge cases. Actually, many edge cases aren’t edge cases at all, they’re just states that are less than ideal or unplanned for.

Often, these cases are revealed through user testing or after a product has launched via user feedback, but it’s critical to try to anticipate as many as possible in advance. A simple framework is simply to ask What if…?

• What if the user is a minor?
• What if the internet connection dies?
• What if the user is colorblind?
• What if English isn’t their first language?
• What if they have a motor impairment?
• What if they haven’t saved anything yet?
• What if the confirmation email never arrived?
• What if the plugin is blocked in China?
• What if JavaScript is disabled?
• What if there’s a server error?
• What if they can’t remember which email they used?

Asking What if…? should happen throughout the product development cycle. For example, I try to identify as many What if…? scenearios as possible when developing my project brief—some will fall into functional specs, others into product requirements, others into a general bucket of issues to resolve. I ask What if…? while designing my user flows, and then when I’m creating my low- and/or high-fidelity prototypes.

Obviously, I look for them during user testing, and try to gauge them after launch by keeping an eye on analytics. In fact, to bring a little more rigor to my practice, I’ve begun compiling common What if…? questions in a Google Sheet, categorizing them by scenario and context, and adding typical or potential solutions.

Whatever your UX practice, get in the habit of asking What if…? Most people and their contexts are going to throw a wrench in the works, and asking this simple question over and over might be the difference between success and failure.

Thanks for reading!