Andy WilsonNotion’s aesthetic feels very cosy, it doesn’t fit the corporate vibe at all. One could argue that looking at it suggests it’s B2C exclusively.
Valued at $10 billion on 2021 and at the time 100 million users.
What it does well is flexibility. In all senses of the word.
Flexible enough to do everything the individual wants without overwhelming them with complexity.
Flexible enough to be complex for business using it in detailed workflows.
Functionally it fits all ends of the spectrum and everything in between.
Notion’s design is a very unique signature aesthetic. It’s warm and minimalist, soft with approprite typography.
This allows them to stay true to that style while accommodating how users and teams what to apply notion to help manage their workflows.
They now use ai tooling to code up static mocks. This is something that really helps when doing interaction design as you can really feel the vibe of what you’ve created.
They have their own design system so they can design and build at scale.
I think Notion is one of the companies that stands head and shoulders above the rest, they have personality and they have strong design ethics and maturity.
But they don’t confrom when it comes to design. It shows that build with aesthetics in mind for the individual rather than for the corporate can and is ok to do.
More businesses should design and build for the individual, bring back soul that software use to have, the corporate world would be a more interesting and pleasing place.