Hi @rob,
Yesterday I’ve unpacked the Line-us I’ve received as a present. I was truly amazed how sexy it looks, how well and thoughfully it’s packaged. But when I’ve opened the companion app, I thought I’m dreaming. I honestly can’t comprehend how such a broken app could make it beyond a draft. It’s just unbelievable how such a cool and unique product gets limited by such a terrifying interface. I am sure there are reasons for choices you’ve made, but I honestly felt as if I’d gotten a Lamborghini but the only way to get in and out is from beneath, every time.
I don’t know how it’s possible a company that is able to create such a cool device intended for designers, tinkerers and creative community in general, can let such a thing happen. Especially after asking for more than €100 per piece. @carlhauser here has for free portrayed a pretty good direction for the Line-us companion interface, how to make it easy to grasp and what it needs to leverage the tool’s creative potential. You should think twice before turning it down and instead focus on fixing this problem of broken UX before adding more and more features to it, until it falls completely apart and you’ll need to rework it anyway.
I am of course no one to tell you what you should do with your product. I’m just saying Line-us is operated by an app that is so discouraging to use that it renders it almost unusable. This negatively impacts retention and growth of your userbase and therefore your revenue. The sooner you hire a proper product designer that will make Line-us a solid interface it deserves, the sooner you can add new features to a solid foundation. The fate of the unique tool with a great potential Line-us unquestionably is, is reliant upon an intuitive interface that encourages creativity.
I don’t intend to attack you here. Those are just two cents from a designer that creates apps for living and wants Line-us to be accessible to a wider audience, as it may inspire many.
May the force be with you!