Designing Feature Growth Without Overcomplicating NavigationDesigning Feature Growth Without Overcomplicating Navigation
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Valeriia's avatar
Valeriia Lypovska
• 13h
Not every new feature needs its own screen.
It's something worth thinking about when a digital product starts growing.
A new feature gets introduced, so a new page is created.
Then another feature arrives. Another page. Another menu item.
Eventually, the navigation starts reflecting everything the product has accumulated rather than how people actually use it.
And that's where things can become unnecessarily complicated.
When you're designing or improving an existing product, adding functionality isn't just about finding space for another interface.
It's about understanding how that functionality fits into the workflows people already have.
Imagine an invoicing platform introducing automated payment reminders.
You could create an entirely separate section for managing them.
Or you could integrate that functionality directly into the invoice workflow, where users already have the relevant context.
Both approaches can make sense.
If the feature involves complex configurations, reporting, or needs to be managed independently, a dedicated section might be justified.
But if it's something people naturally need while completing another task, moving them to a separate screen could introduce unnecessary steps.
I think this is particularly important with established products.
Every new feature affects more than the area where it appears.
It can change navigation, information hierarchy, existing user habits, and the overall complexity of the experience.
And the more a product grows, the more important those decisions become.
Sometimes introducing a new capability means creating an entirely new experience.
Other times, the stronger solution is making that capability feel like it has always belonged there.
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Emiliya's avatar
Emiliya Smuzhanytsia
• 11h
The payment reminder living inside the invoice is my favourite example here. I see the same with corporate PowerPoint masters: every new team asks for its own layout, and a year later there are 140 of them.
Gonzalo's avatar
Gonzalo Hernandez
• 3h
Fully agree. The invoice example is a good one: the reminder belongs where the invoice is, not on a page nobody visits. The test I use is whether people would go looking for it, or need it in the moment.
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