Mind the Gap: Designing for the Spaces Users Fall Through

Three words. Said on loop. Stamped across platforms. Whispered by the voice of British reason every time a train pulls up:

“Mind the gap.”

You can laugh, but it’s brilliant. It’s pure user experience design, not just reacting to friction but predicting it. In the London Underground, they know people rush. They know the platform isn’t always level. So instead of hoping passengers figure it out, they designed around it.

Now think about your product. Where are your users falling through the cracks?

UX isn’t just about smooth flow, it’s about catching the drop-offs

Whether you're building an MVP or scaling a full stack SaaS platform, UX design is not just about looking nice, it’s about protecting your users from failure. When someone bounces halfway through your signup flow, that’s a “gap.” When users don’t understand a feature and abandon it, that’s a “gap.” When conversion rates drop sharply after launch, you guessed it: gap.

Great user centered design is less about wow and more about "what could go wrong here?"

"Mind the Gap" is a framework

At Bona Agency, we use the phrase as shorthand in our process. Every product has natural gaps:

• Between interest and action
• Between understanding and usage
• Between sign-up and retention

Our job is to spot those gaps early, then design around them. We do this by:

• Auditing the end-to-end user journey
• Identifying points of friction and emotional drop-offs
• Creating UX flows that guide, reassure, and convert
• Testing assumptions with real user behavior, not just guesswork

From physical platforms to digital products: the principle is the same

When you board a train, you don’t want to think, you want to move. Same goes for software. Users don’t want to troubleshoot, click around, or Google how your feature works. They want intuitive interaction design, microcopy that speaks human, and product flows that feel obvious without being boring.

Designing to “mind the gap” means assuming your user isn’t thinking, and making it work anyway.

Design with empathy, not ego

Too many products fail because they assume their users are experts. But real users are distracted, busy, and using your product on the go. Your job isn’t to impress them, it’s to help them stay on the train.

At Bona, we see user experience strategy as emotional architecture. We’re not just mapping steps, we’re designing trust, clarity, momentum.

So, where are your gaps?

Let’s find them. Fix them. And make your UX not just beautiful.

Book a free 20-minute UX audit call with us here. We’ll show you the gaps you’re missing and how to turn them into growth opportunities.