Keep it simple

Having been in development for four years and worked on plenty of projects, I suddenly had some thoughts about the product side.

It started when I noticed many domestic friends building independent sites and overseas ventures. After briefly getting involved, I realized that some shopping platforms can be extremely minimalist. Because of work, I got exposed to many overseas businesses. Compared with domestic projects, they share one glaring trait: clean, flashy, and built on modern stacks. Especially the web3 ones—”flashy“ is an understatement. Domestic projects, by contrast, feel straight-laced or even old and stuck. Their components are always the same old “three big ladies,” with very few highlights. Even Alibaba’s internal component library is mostly a business-tailored antd fork. From a product design viewpoint, there are almost no surprises. Ant Group’s Alipay has created many micro-interactions for mini-games, which does count as a creative design.

A product really boils down to two aspects: functionality and design. Domestically, the functional side is big and comprehensive, while on the design side the mantra is “just make it work.” Abroad, it’s more small yet beautiful—even a single button is custom-built and highly tailored. Sometimes I wonder, does a shopping platform truly need to be so comprehensive? Alipay or WeChat desperately crams everything inside—every kind of mini-program imaginable. Is that actually good? In a way, it becomes a monopoly.

So which philosophy is better: a department store approach or a precision-targeted approach? There’s no standard answer, but personally I lean toward the latter from a functional perspective. Because it’s simple, people like it. I also prefer overseas UI styles. Stiff design equals no design at all. I believe the future lies in this small yet exquisite, keep it simple product philosophy.