Common sense > “Just ship it”. Behind the scenes on our design process.

It starts with one button.

A button is the simplest way to communicate with an app.

To trigger an action. To complete a task.

It’s simple. Though so difficult to get right.

Most of the time, that “thing that feels right” is probably the right decision.

But to get there, it takes time, trial and error, and a lot of iteration.

Over and over again, I’m learning that the simplest things are the most difficult ones to achieve. Because making things simple is hard. A rare skill not many have.

Charlie, my co-founder, is fantastic at this.

He can take a complex idea and turn it into something simple. I admire him.

Why am I sharing this?

Because one of the most challenging things for Pretty Prompt has been nailing the “widget button” inside ChatGPT (or Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, Lovable, etc.)

That’s the magic of Pretty Prompt. It should feel like it’s always there to help, but out of the way when you don’t need it…

So, how did we get to this new button?

Originally, we thought having a button that follows your prompting would be the right thing to do.

Surely having a big button that says “✨ Improve Prompt” and it’s always next to your cursor, should be right, right?” → We were SO wrong.

At first sight, it was intuitive. It’s 1 button. Tells you what it does. Next to your cursor.

Nothing to think or do apart from clicking it.

But this was not what users wanted. They wanted something helpful, handy, but out of the way.

Startups are often counterintuitive…

You can do as much research and planning as you want, but you will never know what actually works until you put it into the hands of users.

Now, you might think, “It’s just a button!” No. It’s not just a button.

It’s the button.

Thousands of people use this daily, so it’s a change that has to be given a bit more thought than just ‘ship it’.

You can use Pretty Prompt in multiple ways. Through the web app, through the extension popup (like most other extensions), but the most common and powerful way is right inside, where you prompt: ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, etc.

It’s like Grammarly, for prompting.

So, as you prompt, you just click the Improve Prompt button (aka THE BUTTON), and you get a perfect prompt, in-context, right there.

So if this button is wrong, the whole thing is wrong. This button IS the app.

How did we know the button was wrong?

We saw a few signals that made us think the old button was slightly off.

1. Some users were constantly snoozing it. → I don’t want people to churn because we f*cked up our UX!

2. People were saying it was “too annoying” when they needed to focus.

3. Originally, it followed your typing. So we made it pinned by default, and uninstalls went down 👌

4. Users were asking about features we already had, but were too difficult to find. (”Can I save my favorite prompts to reuse”?) They had to do way too many clicks…

5. Hardly anyone clicked on the dropdown.

So… after 66 versions and 5 months, we finally shipped a new button 🎉

Designing with common sense

We don’t have a Designer at Pretty Prompt yet. I can’t wait for the day we have one!

But for now, both @cerwindcharlie and I design. We use @Cursor, @Figma, pen and paper, and a bit of @tldraw/Miro. But we mostly try to “design with common sense”.

We wanted the new button to be:

• Not too intrusive.

• Pinned by default.

• 1 click to value.

• And have easy access to the main features.

It’s hard to be a ghost… Trying to be there, while being unnoticed, is a fine line:

Default Buttons

Eventually, we chose to have two defaults depending on whether the user is signed in to the extension or not:

• When you first add Pretty Prompt to your browser, we make it super easy to get value straight away. The product is available without the need to enter an email.

• We call this a “free trial”. So you can use it for a couple of prompts, right out of the box. Only after you get value, you’re asked to sign in to continue using Pretty Prompt for free.

The balance of odd numbers

I love even numbers. But sometimes great design is not even.

• If I give you just 1 button, there’s nothing to think about. → There’s just 1 CTA.

• If I give you 2 buttons, which one do you choose? → Problems start.

• If I give you 3 or more, it gets confusing → Unless you unbalance them, to bring back the balance.

The number 3, in this case, brings balance to the design.

What does it look like? 1 main button + 2 secondary ones.

As a user, I have clarity on what the main CTA is (the main dish), and the other two options if I need something else (the starter and dessert).

I hope I haven’t lost you so far… Here goes another analogy…

Let’s take it to Hollywood:

• You’ve got your main character (“Improve Prompt”), and your supportive cast (“Refine Prompt” and “Prompt Library”).
  

• There are more features, just like you’ve got more characters in a movie. So we’ve added them to the Extension popup.

• Take The Lion King (my favorite movie 🍿):

  • The main character: Simba.

  • Secondary characters: Mufasa (Simba’s dad) and Scar (the bad guy).

  • Then you’ve got your additional cast (each with a specific reason for being there): Nala, Timon, Pumbaa, Zazu, Rafiki, etc., you get the point.

I’m 100% convinced we haven’t nailed the ‘Pretty UX’ yet.

But I’m happy we’re moving fast and getting closer to what feels right.

Trying different avenues, and learning from our users which features work like the main character, and which ones like the supportive cast of our product.

So far, I’m loving the new set of Pretty Buttons!

(Hint: use the hotkey ‘Tab’ to improve your prompt.)

---

Closing thoughts

With this new update, we’ve focused on the features people talk about in their reviews.

We hear all sorts of thoughts, reviews, and feedback. But if you read between the lines and take a step back, you start to see the patterns about what’s working and what’s not:

“Does exactly what it says on the tin. Integrates well with my go-to-LLMs and is such a fabulous time-saver for a lazy prompter like me :D”

“The Refine option beside the prompt improver is pure genius!
Think this will fast become something I can’t live without now that I have it.”

“Its just amazing how simple and yet how powerful this extension is. The library feature is by far my favorite as I can save the prompts that generates the best output to use it over and over again in just a couple of clicks...LOVE IT!”

I don’t want people to learn how to use my app.

I want them to feel they already know how to, before they’ve even started.

Thank you for letting me share our story with the Product Hunt community. Hope these learnings are valuable for other makers! (If you want to see the full story with images, design screenshots, and more, click here.)