How to Build Authentic Products

Most designers don't realize they're signing up to create personal relationships between people and the products they design. While psychological research on human-product relationships remains limited, extensive work exists on building healthy relationships between people. Even though your design isn't a person, these findings help create authentic experiences that users genuinely connect with.

Platforms like Adalo, a no-code app builder for database-driven web apps and native iOS and Android apps—one version across all three platforms, published to the Apple App Store and Google Play, empower designers to bring these relationship-building principles to life without writing code. With one build publishing across all three platforms—including direct submission to the Apple App Store and Google Play—designers can focus on what truly matters: crafting authentic experiences that resonate with users.

There are three traits your design must exhibit to make users feel your design is authentic. Master these, and you can count on users returning repeatedly to experience your latest work. Better yet, they'll enthusiastically recommend you to friends and family, creating organic growth that no marketing budget can match.

Smart and Competent

Would you trust a surgeon who wasn't skilled at performing surgery? Of course not. People don't trust someone they consider incompetent. This is why competence is a key prerequisite to authenticity.

Andrea Abele and Bogdan Wojciszke, professors of psychology, found that competence along with warmth account for 80% of our impressions of other people. We must look for ways in our designs to demonstrate competence to our users.

Get the Basics Right

The first way to demonstrate competence is to get the basics right. What constitutes "basics" depends entirely on your field. Architects shouldn't design buildings with three-foot tall doorways. Software developers shouldn't create back buttons that move users forward. Restaurants should serve hot food hot and cold food cold.

Sometimes the basics are so fundamental that they're easy to overlook. But that would be a mistake. Get something basic wrong, and users immediately question your competency across every aspect of your design. What seems like a minor mishap to you becomes a where-there's-smoke-there's-fire situation for them.

Ada, Adalo's AI builder, lets you describe what you want and generates your app. Magic Start creates complete app foundations from a description, while Magic Add adds features through natural language.

This principle applies directly to app development. When building with Adalo's AI-assisted platform, Magic Start generates complete app foundations from simple descriptions—handling database structure, screens, and user flows automatically. This ensures the fundamental architecture is sound from the start, so you can focus on the details that differentiate your experience.

Perfect the Details

The devil, and the next place to demonstrate competence, is in the details. Many designers lack the will or resources to specifically craft each detail in their design. Instead, they revert to default decisions—details crafted to be whatever's cheap and easy.

Great innovations meet a higher standard. Every detail should serve the story you're telling. Details that conflict with your story pull users out of the experience. Because these stick out like a sore thumb, every slapdash detail declares your lack of competence.

Take the time to carefully craft each detail. Show users you care enough to get everything just right for them. With over 3 million apps created on Adalo—a platform described as "easy as PowerPoint"—designers have the tools to perfect every interaction without getting lost in code.

Warm

The second major factor people use to evaluate others, according to Abele and Wojciszke's research, is warmth. We tend to like warm people more than cold ones. This has important implications for our designs and how they reflect on us as designers. We need to ensure our designs take a warm posture towards users.

Be Welcoming

The first key to being warm is to be welcoming. Whether users are returning for the hundredth time or experiencing your design for the first time, you should be ecstatic they're there. Without them engaging with you, you wouldn't be making anyone's life better—and that's the point after all.

Be excited to see your users. Literally welcome them. Tell them how happy you are to see them, how grateful you are to have them, and how you hope their experience will be positive. This warmth transforms a transactional interaction into the beginning of a relationship.

Demonstrate Caring

The second key to being warm is to demonstrate caring. Start by asking users how they're doing. Find ways to build dialogue into your experience. Create moments for emotional check-ins to ensure they're happy and frustration-free.

Even when things are going smoothly, users appreciate you asking. Sometimes you'll check in and find things aren't going well. In these cases, it's critical to act. Don't let their cries for help fall on deaf ears. A silent response convinces users you don't care about them whatsoever.

Do your best to rectify situations whenever you discover a user is having problems. This responsiveness builds trust that compounds over time. Users who feel heard become advocates; users who feel ignored become detractors.

Practice Honesty

The final key to warmth is honesty. Users can tell when you're being insincere, so don't even try it. Explain where you're coming from. Own up when you make mistakes. Share your reasoning behind tough decisions.

Users appreciate honesty. It helps them view you as a warm, authentic person rather than a faceless entity trying to extract value from them. Transparency about limitations often builds more trust than pretending to be perfect.

Funny

Believe it or not, being funny actually helps establish authenticity. Humor is a great way to demonstrate both your smarts and your warmth. But not all types of humor work for authenticity.

Mean-spirited humor can backfire—users won't trust that they won't be the butt of the joke next time. Good-natured humor, however, shows a high degree of empathy. It highlights your ability to understand users and their context enough to know what they'll find funny.

The Power of Self-Deprecation

Self-deprecating humor does a great job of creating authenticity. Even a groan-inducing bad pun works, because it renders you vulnerable. It shows you're human and well aware you come with flaws.

Showcasing this vulnerability invites others to empathize with you. They relate to you because they recognize they have flaws too. Once they begin to think of you as similar to themselves, they see you as authentic. Don't be afraid to let your weird side out, to show a little whimsy.

This human touch matters especially in digital products. When apps feel robotic and transactional, users disengage. When they feel like they're interacting with something that has personality—quirks and all—they form genuine connections.

Building Authentic Experiences at Scale

Creating authentic designs requires tools that don't get in the way of your creative vision. The technical complexity of traditional app development often forces designers to compromise on the details that matter most.

Adalo's modular infrastructure scales to serve apps with millions of monthly active users, with no upper ceiling. Unlike app wrappers that hit performance constraints under load, purpose-built architecture maintains speed at scale. This means the authentic experience you craft for your first hundred users remains consistent for your first million.

The platform's X-Ray feature identifies performance issues before they affect users—ensuring your carefully crafted details don't get undermined by technical problems. With no data caps on paid plans and no usage-based charges, you can focus entirely on the user experience without worrying about infrastructure limitations creating friction.

Authenticity in Practice

The experience you create for users must be authentic. Users treat their relationship with your design as they would a relationship with another person. Build that relationship by demonstrating your competence—get all the basics right and make sure every detail enhances the overall story you're creating.

Exude warmth. Welcome your users and show them you care about them. Respond when they need help. Be honest about your decisions and limitations.

Finally, take a chance and open yourself up with humor. Your users will like you all the better for it. Demonstrate these qualities in your design and users will view your design as one built on authenticity—the foundation of lasting relationships that drive sustainable growth.

Whether you're building your first app or your fiftieth, these principles remain constant. The tools have evolved—AI-assisted building, one-click publishing to app stores, infrastructure that scales automatically—but the human need for authentic connection hasn't changed. Design for that need, and everything else follows.

FAQ

Why choose Adalo over other app building solutions?

Adalo is an AI-powered app builder that creates true native iOS and Android apps alongside web apps. Unlike web wrappers, it compiles to native code and publishes directly to both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store from a single codebase. With unlimited database records on paid plans and no usage-based charges, you can scale without unexpected costs.

What's the fastest way to build and publish an app to the App Store?

Adalo's drag-and-drop interface combined with AI-assisted building lets you go from idea to published app in days rather than months. Magic Start generates complete app foundations from descriptions, and the platform handles the complex App Store submission process—certificates, provisioning profiles, and store guidelines—so you can focus on creating authentic user experiences.

What are the key traits my app design needs to feel authentic to users?

Your app design must exhibit three key traits: competence (getting the basics right and perfecting every detail), warmth (being welcoming and demonstrating genuine care for users), and appropriate humor (showing your human side through good-natured, self-deprecating moments). Research shows competence and warmth account for 80% of how users perceive your design.

How can I demonstrate competence through my app design?

Demonstrate competence by getting the basics right first—ensure navigation works intuitively and core functions perform flawlessly. Then focus on the details, making sure every element serves your overall story rather than reverting to default solutions. One basic mistake can cause users to question your competency across your entire design.

How do I make my app feel warm and welcoming to users?

Create warmth by genuinely welcoming users whether they're new or returning, building in moments for emotional check-ins, and responding promptly when users encounter problems. Be honest and transparent about your decisions and mistakes. Users can sense insincerity, so authentic communication builds lasting trust.

Is humor appropriate in app design, and how should I use it?

Good-natured humor strengthens authenticity by demonstrating empathy and making your design feel more human. Self-deprecating humor and playful moments show vulnerability that users relate to. However, avoid mean-spirited humor that might make users worry they'll be the target next time.

Can I create authentic user experiences without coding?

Yes. Adalo's intuitive interface lets you focus on designing warm, competent, and engaging interactions without worrying about technical implementation. With over 3 million apps created on the platform—described as "easy as PowerPoint"—designers can craft every detail that demonstrates care for users.

How does app performance affect user perception of authenticity?

Slow or unreliable apps undermine even the best-designed experiences. Users interpret technical problems as a lack of competence. Adalo's modular infrastructure scales to millions of monthly active users while maintaining performance, ensuring your authentic design remains consistent as you grow.