Series

Make Me Think

Perception-First Design for the Post-Usability Era. Steve Krug wrote the definitive book about the foundation layer. This series covers the other four, plus the ethics, the science, and the nightclub where it all started.

Stefan Kovalik · 12-part series · 2026

Chapter 1: The Bouncer

The origin story. How three years reading faces at a nightclub door turned into a design methodology. Barback to head of security, 1,500+ faces a night, decisions made in milliseconds.

March 6, 2026 · 12 min read

Chapter 2: They're Already Not Thinking

The autopilot problem. Predictive processing, System 1 vs. System 2, and why most "conversion problems" happen upstream of the checkout flow.

March 7, 2026 · 10 min read

Chapter 3: The Tuning Fork

Autism as analytical social cognition. ADHD as friction sensitivity. Why neurodivergent perception became the diagnostic instrument, and how improv bridged the gap.

March 8, 2026 · 11 min read

Chapter 4: The Foundation

Cognitive load is the least glamorous layer and the one every other layer depends on. Working memory holds 3–5 things, not 7. Your interface is spending them.

March 9, 2026 · 11 min read

Chapter 5: The 50-Millisecond Verdict

Aesthetic judgment happens before conscious thought. The science of first impressions, why ugly-but-usable loses to beautiful-and-decent, and the perception layer most teams skip.

March 10, 2026 · 10 min read

Chapter 6: The Feeling of Truth

Your brain doesn’t separate “easy to read” from “probably true.” Processing fluency, the science of why consistency compounds trust, and the brand system that turned $1.7M into $5M.

March 11, 2026 · 11 min read

Chapter 7: The Gap

Perception bias optimization. The System 1/System 2 gap, Nisbett & Wilson (1977), and why a tagline change preceded 233% revenue growth.

March 12, 2026 · 14 min read