Spend novelty once

Save the big moment for the first visit, then get out of the way.

Rauno Freibergrauno.me
A really good use case for increased novelty is onboarding because you generally only onboard a product once.
Novelty · Feb 2026Read article ↗
Rauno Freibergrauno.me
Personally, I don’t need to be novelly greeted "welcome" by a product every single time I return. It diminishes the novelty of the occasion.
Novelty · Feb 2026Read article ↗

The flag lives in memory only. Reset clears it.

1 · Log in, again and again

Log in and out three times in each window.

Splash every timeBad
Visits0Spent waiting0.0s
Splash onceGood
Visits0Spent waiting0.0s
const seen = new Set();            // in memory here; use storage in a real app
function login(user) {
  const first = !seen.has(user);
  seen.add(user);
  return first ? playWelcome().then(showDashboard) : showDashboard();
}

Why it matters, pros and cons

Why it matters

Onboarding happens once, so it can be expressive. On every return the same splash is a tax.

Pros

  • The first visit still gets its moment.
  • Returning people reach their work immediately.
  • Time saved grows with every visit.

Cons

  • Needs somewhere to remember the first visit.
  • A shared device may never show the splash.
  • Seasonal greetings are still worth a rare outing.