From the initial promise to unforgettable delight — how great design crafts captivating experiences
If you’ve seen “The Prestige,” Christopher Nolan’s 2006 film about two rival magicians, Robert (played by Hugh Jackman) and Alfred (played by Christian Bale), you know it reveals the true essence of every great illusion. It’s not just about what you see on stage, but about the entire process behind the scenes. It is there, in the meticulously crafted details and the sacrifices the magician makes, that the secret to the “incredible” lies.
Here’s how one of the characters, Cutter, explains what becomes the core of the film:
Every great magic trick consists of three parts or acts.
The first part is called ‘The Pledge’. The magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards, a bird or a man. He shows you this object. Perhaps he asks you to inspect it to see if it is indeed real, unaltered, normal. But of course… it probably isn’t.
The second act is called ‘The Turn’. The magician takes the ordinary something and makes it do something extraordinary. Now you’re looking for the secret… but you won’t find it, because of course you’re not really looking. You don’t really want to know. You want to be fooled.
But you wouldn’t clap yet. Because making something disappear isn’t enough; you have to bring it back. That’s why every magic trick has a third act, the hardest part, the part we call ‘The Prestige’.
Sound familiar? This is also the heart of good UX. Because the best products, like the greatest magic tricks, leave people wondering, “How on earth did that happen?!” In reality, behind this “magic” lies a precise process, a deep understanding of human psychology, and countless hours of careful design.
The UX Analogy: The Three Acts of User Experience
Every truly good user experience is like this magic, unfolding in three stages — from the initial promise, through the unexpected turn, to the astonishing “return” of the product, leaving the user in awe.
1. The Pledge = Onboarding / First Contact
The first 5 seconds of a product’s UX are like a magician showing their empty hat. The user watches you with a hint of skepticism. Will you surprise me? Will you show me something valuable? Will you give me what I’m looking for?
The Pledge is simplicity, ease, clarity of value — and it must look absolutely effortless. This is the first moment you build trust. If you don’t get it right, the audience will leave before you even get to “The Turn.”
Think about the moment you first open a brand-new phone. The intuitiveness with which it greets you, the clarity of the instructions guiding you step-by-step. This isn’t accidental. It’s the result of applying principles like the Primacy Effect — a psychological phenomenon where the first information we receive has the strongest influence on our overall impression. Good design here skillfully reduces cognitive load (the mental effort to process information) by not overwhelming you with unnecessary options. The goal is to make everything so easy that the user doesn’t even have to think — just like in Fogg’s Behavior Model, where high ability and a clear prompt can compensate for lower motivation to act.
UX Lessons:
- Don’t overload: Minimum information, maximum clarity.Provide only what’s necessary: Focus on one primary task or value, adhering to principles like “Visibility of system status” from Nielsen’s Heuristics — the user should immediately know what’s happening.Build trust: A quick, clear, and seamless first interaction.
2. The Turn = The “Aha!” Moment / Surprise
This is the moment you show you know the user better than they know themselves. It’s the essence of the product doing something “extraordinary” to solve a problem or satisfy a need.
Imagine searching for information online, and the site not only gives you the exact result but also immediately suggests the next logical step you hadn’t even considered searching for. That’s “The Turn” — unexpected usefulness or an effective “shortcut.” It could also be a moment when a microinteraction (a small animation or system response) brings you genuine pleasure from the interaction. In these moments, good design reduces the number of choices for the user to speed up their decision, as advised by Hick’s Law, or optimizes the size and distance of elements for quick clicking, according to Fitts’s Law. The aim is to achieve a flow state, where the user is so engaged they forget about time and the technology itself.
UX Lessons
- Unexpectedly good experience = loyalty: Surprise the user with intelligence and efficiency.Surprise with attention to detail: Small things make a big difference in the overall feeling. Remember Jakob’s Law — users spend most of their time on other sites; use their familiar patterns but add unique, intuitive surprises.Don’t overdo it: The focus remains on value and utility, not on flashiness at all costs, to avoid feature creep.
3. The Prestige = Long-Term Value / Satisfaction
This isn’t just the “oh, cool!” moment — it’s the feeling that it was all worth it. This is the final, most impressive part of the trick — what disappeared comes back. The user is left with a sense of completion, satisfaction, and a desire to return. They aren’t just impressed; they are captivated.
The Prestige is why the user will recommend the product. Why they will return. Why they will remain loyal. It’s in how the design makes the user feel not only successful but also understood, valued, and even happy. Here, we enter the realm of emotional design (Don Norman’s emotional design levels: Visceral, Behavioral, Reflective), where we aim to evoke positive feelings on a deep level — from instinctive reaction to profound consideration. The Peak-End Rule teaches us that people remember the most intense moment and the end of an experience, so the conclusion is crucial for a lasting impression. Building this “Prestige” directly impacts customer lifetime value (CLV) — a metric every business leader tracks. It’s the result of consistency, demonstrated care, and intelligent anticipation of needs.
The Prestige lies in the designer’s invisible sacrifices — everything you removed, simplified, rethought, so the end result appears effortless and perfect. This is the continuous process of design iteration and optimization, often unseen by the end-user, but which ensures the magic happens.
UX Lessons
- The last impression is just as important as the first: Ensure the user ends their interaction with the product feeling positive and accomplished.Design should evoke a sense of completion, care, and satisfaction: This is the emotional connection you build, creating a sense of reciprocity — when users receive more than they expected, they are inclined to “give back” in the form of loyalty.Prestige is in the hidden complexity: The simpler it looks to the user, the greater the “Prestige” and the effort behind the scenes — true mastery in the art of omission.
Final Thought
Not every UX design needs to be literally “magical,” but every truly good UX carries that captivating Prestige. That moment when people say, “This is it! This is exactly what I needed!” It’s the result of purposeful work, a deep understanding of the user, and mastery in executing each of the three acts. Investing in “The Prestige” isn’t just for a “wow” effect; it’s an investment in long-term loyalty, user satisfaction, and sustainable business success.
What’s your Prestige? What is it that you do that leaves users in awe and wanting more? Share your “magical” design moments and what’s behind them! 💬👇
Every great (UX) magic has three acts… was originally published in UX Planet on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
