Episode 2: Designing a straight-line UX
Most software becomes complex by accident. Expensio was designed as a straight-line experience: add expenses, bundle them, export a clean PDF. No setup, no onboarding, no clutter — just clarity.
Most software becomes complex by accident.
Expensio became simple by design.
When I started building Expensio, I made a conscious decision early on:
the product should follow a straight line.
No branching flows.
No setup screens.
No onboarding wizard.
No configuration before value.
Just a clear path from start to finish.
The Straight Line
For Expensio, the ideal flow was obvious:
- Add an expense
- Bundle expenses into a declaration
- Export a clean PDF
That’s it.
Everything else is secondary.
Most expense tools break this flow by inserting friction:
settings, dashboards, toggles, advanced options, automation rules.
Before you know it, users are configuring instead of completing.
I wanted the opposite.
Design decisions that supported simplicity
To protect the straight line, I deliberately made a few UX decisions:
- No onboarding walkthroughs
- No mandatory configuration steps
- Sensible defaults everywhere
- PDF export as the primary end goal, not dashboards
- Minimal navigation and predictable screens
The idea was simple:
if someone opens Expensio for the first time, they should be productive within minutes.
No learning curve. No mental overhead.
Why this matters
Straight-line UX does a few important things:
- It reduces cognitive load
- It lowers the barrier to first use
- It minimizes edge cases
- It keeps maintenance and support manageable
Most importantly, it allows the tool to disappear into the background.
You don’t “use” Expensio — you complete something and move on.
That’s exactly what an expense tool should do.
Simplicity scales better than features
It’s tempting to think that adding features increases value.
In practice, every new feature bends the line.
More options lead to more decisions.
More decisions lead to more friction.
More friction leads to abandonment.
By keeping Expensio intentionally linear, the product stays calm, predictable, and fast — even as usage grows.
Straight-line UX doesn’t scale features.
It scales clarity.
#productdesign #saas #uxdesign #buildinpublic #indiehacker
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