Matthew Beevers

As UX designers, we often face the question: Should we walk users through everything up front, or let them discover features as they go? To guide users, we typically design experiences such as onboarding tutorials and contextual help. Onboarding tutorials are the guided tours users encounter when opening an app for the first time. Step by step, they highlight the core features so users don’t feel lost. Instead of teaching everything at once, contextual help shows tips exactly when and where users need them. Pros of Onboarding Tutorials ✅ They cover all the essentials at once ✅ Create a structured learning path Cons of Onboarding Tutorials ⚠️ Many users skip or rush through them ⚠️ Can feel long for experienced users Pros of Contextual Help 💡 Delivers support exactly when needed 💡 Doesn’t overwhelm the user Cons of Contextual Help ⚠️ Tips can be scattered across the app ⚠️ Easy to miss or overlook Which one is right? It depends. 👉 Use onboarding tutorials when you need a structured introduction, especially for complex apps. 👉 Use contextual help when you want to support ongoing discovery, especially for feature-rich products. Often, the best approach is a thoughtful mix of both. 🙌

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📱 Curious about a career in UX design? This guide breaks down what UX designers actually do, what skills are in demand and how much you could earn in 2025. 🔗 https://bit.ly/4fe62YZ

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UX designers: your portfolio should be doing more than showing work. It should be landing you a job. Shopify shares key tips for designing a UX portfolio that gets you noticed and opens doors. https://bit.ly/4oK1L3O

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“Great design isn’t just about pretty screens. It’s about 🎯 reducing risk, saving time, and creating a frictionless experience for your customers.” “Bad design costs you twice: first in wasted money, then in lost opportunity”

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I basically built a PubMed for designers. Not in the sense of dumping papers into a database, but actually making research usable. Because right now, most design research is either: buried in journals too dense to read or completely disconnected from real decisions So people just skip it. Which is why a lot of “design process” ends up being guesswork dressed up nicely. This is an attempt to fix that. https://designdex.org #design #industrialdesign #uxdesign #productdesign #designresearch #designdex

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