The Moment Nobody Designs For
Picture this: a user downloads your app, completes onboarding, and arrives at their dashboard for the very first time. They are excited, motivated, and ready to engage. Then they see it — a blank screen with a small grey icon and the words "No data yet."
And just like that, you lost them.
Empty states are the screens users see when there is no content to display. A new account with no activity. A search that returns no results. An inbox with no messages. A feed with no posts. These moments happen constantly across every digital product, yet most design teams treat them as an afterthought — something to slap a placeholder on and ship.
That is a critical mistake. And it is costing products real users every single day.
Why Empty States Matter More Than You Think
There is a psychological concept called the blank slate effect. When humans encounter something empty or undefined, anxiety kicks in. We do not know what to do. We do not know if we are in the right place. We start to question whether the product is broken, whether we set it up wrong, or whether it is even worth continuing.
For a first-time user, an empty state is often their very first experience with the actual core of your product — after the marketing pages and onboarding flow. If that moment feels cold, confusing, or unhelpful, the trust you built during onboarding evaporates instantly.
An empty state is not a design problem. It is a conversation. And right now, most products are responding to their users with silence.
Research consistently shows that users who do not reach the "aha moment" of a product within their first session rarely return. Empty states sit directly on the path to that moment. They are either a bridge that guides the user forward, or a wall that stops them cold.
The Three Types of Empty States You Need to Know
1. First-Use Empty States
This is the most important category. The user has never interacted with this part of the product before. The screen is empty because they have not created anything yet. This is your best opportunity to show value, set expectations, and guide action.
A great first-use empty state should do three things:
- Explain what this space is for in plain, friendly language
- Show a visual hint of what it will look like when populated
- Provide a clear, single call-to-action that gets them started
2. User-Cleared Empty States
The user had content, and now they do not — they finished their to-do list, read all their messages, or cleared their cart. This is actually a positive moment and should be treated as such. Celebrate the accomplishment. Reinforce the value they just received. This is not a failure state; it is a success state.
3. No Results Empty States
A search returned nothing. A filter has no matches. This is where frustration peaks and abandonment spikes. Users feel like they hit a dead end. Your design job here is to keep them moving — suggest alternatives, offer to broaden the search, or acknowledge the issue with empathy and helpful next steps.
What Bad Empty States Look Like
Before we get to solutions, let us be honest about the patterns that are failing users right now across the industry:
- The ghost icon: A faded illustration of the feature with zero context or direction
- The developer placeholder: Literally the words "No items found" in default system font
- The premature upsell: Using the empty state to push a premium plan before the user has experienced any value
- The wall of text: A paragraph explaining the feature in detail with no visual hierarchy and no clear next step
- The broken-looking screen: An empty state so bare that users genuinely cannot tell if something went wrong
A Framework for Designing Empty States That Actually Work
Lead with empathy, not function
Write copy that acknowledges where the user is. Instead of "You have no projects", try "This is where your projects will live. Let us build something great." The difference is subtle but the emotional impact is significant. Users respond to feeling understood.
Use illustration to set expectations
A simple, lightweight illustration showing what the populated state looks like does two things: it makes the emptiness feel temporary and intentional, and it gives the user a mental model of what they are working toward. Keep illustrations minimal and consistent with your overall design language.
One action, maximum
Do not overwhelm an empty state with multiple options. Identify the single most important action you want the user to take and make that the clear, prominent call-to-action. Every additional option you add reduces the chance they take any action at all.
Make the copy feel human
Empty state copy is often written last by someone who is tired and rushing to ship. It shows. Take the time to write it like you are talking to a real person who is slightly confused and needs a friendly nudge. Read it out loud. If it sounds robotic, rewrite it.
Contextual help without overwhelming
Consider adding a small secondary link to documentation, a tutorial, or a walkthrough — but keep it secondary. The primary CTA should always dominate. Think of the help link as a safety net, not the main path.
Real-World Examples to Learn From
Some products consistently nail their empty states. Notion shows beautiful template suggestions the moment a page is empty, turning the blank canvas into an invitation. Slack uses warm, personality-filled copy in empty channels that feels like a team member talking, not a system message. Linear celebrates when your issue queue is empty with a positive reinforcement message that makes users feel productive rather than lost.
These are not accidents. These are deliberate design decisions made by teams that understand the full user journey — including the quiet, empty moments in between.
Adding Empty States to Your Design Process
The practical problem is that empty states are easy to forget during the design phase. You are designing with real data, real content, real activity — because that is what makes mockups look good. The empty state only reveals itself at the edges of your prototype, and it is tempting to kick it down the road.
Here is how to fix that process:
- Add empty state design as a required deliverable for every new feature screen
- Create a shared component in your design system specifically for empty state patterns
- Include empty state review in your design critiques and QA checklist
- Work with your copywriter on empty state text the same way you would for onboarding flows
The Bigger Picture
Good UX is not just about the happy path. It is about designing for every state of the user's journey — including the quiet, uncertain, empty moments. When you invest in empty states, you are telling your users that you thought about them even when there was nothing to show. That kind of thoughtfulness builds trust in a way that polished hero sections and smooth animations simply cannot.
The next time you open a design file, ask yourself: what does this screen look like when it is completely empty? If the answer is "I have not designed that yet," you have just found your next priority.
Because somewhere out there, a user is staring at a blank screen right now — and what you put in that space might be the difference between them becoming your most loyal user or never coming back again.
