Elon Musk has at all times most popular minimalist design, with as many buttons and controls hidden as potential, leaving a extra modern and simplistic look.

That’s the strategy that he’s taken at his different firms, so it ought to come as no shock to see that Musk can also be seeking to implement a extra stripped-back design ethos at X as properly.

We’ve already seen this with the adjustments to hyperlink previews within the app, whereas over the previous couple of months, we’ve additionally seen numerous examples of X’s extra important pending redesign, which can take away all of the perform buttons and metrics from the underside of X posts in-stream, with a purpose to put extra give attention to the content material itself.

That’ll additionally change the way you work together within the app.

So as to interact with posts, X will quickly change to a extra haptic-focused strategy, in that customers might want to swipe left to love and put up in-stream, and proper to answer.

Which, once more, clearly aligns with Elon’s minimalist imaginative and prescient, however it will likely be a big change in how folks work together within the app. And with most customers by no means partaking with posts already, it looks like a dangerous transfer.

However that’s not the one UI shift coming to X.

X can also be experimenting with extra minimalist reformats, together with a simplified “faucet to develop” perform, to extra simply learn longer posts.

Whereas it’s additionally growing new video controls, based mostly on extra intuitive engagement behaviors.

These are attention-grabbing additions, which align with making the X platform extra of an extension of pure motion and interplay, versus urgent handbook buttons on display.

However will customers come alongside for the experience, and observe together with these much less upfront management choices?

It’s value noting right here that Twitter had lengthy grappled with easy methods to simplify the app, with firm execs viewing this as a key obstacle to its progress.

Again in 2018, then Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey famous that utilizing Twitter was “a variety of work”, with many new customers having a poor expertise the primary time that they use the app, resulting in larger churn charges. Twitter had sought to enhance this, by way of improved suggestions and streamlined account set-up processes, however they may by no means seemingly get it proper, and maximize its enchantment amongst internet customers.

With this in thoughts, it’s onerous to see how X’s coming revamp will assist. Certain, having fewer controls on display will imply much less visible muddle, however it is going to additionally make it way more troublesome for brand spanking new customers to grasp easy methods to work together with the app.

Possibly, finally, this can higher align with folks’s expectations. However proper now, it looks like a dangerous transfer, particularly for a platform that’s seen little to no consumer progress in nearly two years.  

However Elon has a imaginative and prescient, and plainly nothing goes to face in his manner of constructing it a actuality.

And on the similar time, previous Twitter administration was additionally too danger averse on this respect, not often rolling out any change that hadn’t been beta examined for literal years beforehand.

It appears the optimum strategy might be someplace in between the 2, however perhaps, Elon’s accelerated improvement program is simply what the app wants.