Great Tools Disappear

Why the best tools become invisible

The best designed products get out of the way. They don’t grab attention. They let you focus on the work instead of the tool.

Some products like Claude, Notion, or Craft are very opinionated in their design. Nice typography, interesting colors, big elements. Beautifully crafted, but the problem for me is that they are always there. They don’t let you get to the core of what you want to do. You never fully forget you’re inside their product.

Other tools like Figma, ChatGPT, Obsidian, or early Google are just tools. They strip the interface down to almost nothing. They get out of the way and let you focus on the work.

There is a place for both approaches. Expressive design should live on marketing pages, where you can show more of your identity. Inside the product, the tool should stay the tool. The less you notice them, the more fully you can focus on the work itself.

Great tools disappear.