How emotion and identity shape tomorrow's iconic products

Today’s digital experiences often feel bland – sometimes even boring. Case in point: We recently tested the five most-downloaded hotel booking apps and compared their key functionality. What we found was that the apps are virtually indistinguishable. Same functionality, similar look and feel.

None of these teams did a poor job. They likely spent years A/B testing their way to the functions on display. They did their homework. But in the process, something essential slipped away.

As a customer, why choose one app over another? There’s no spark, no sense of belonging to a brand – just interchangeable tools competing on price.

This stems from something we at Manyone have been calling the “utility plateau.” All teams share the same starting point. They build a functional foundation, solving the obvious customer needs first. 

However, what happens next is where it becomes interesting. Instead of finding the product’s unique edge, most teams start to optimize function. The result is a product that technically works better, but to a customer it still feels the same.

At that point, most teams are so focused on optimizing that they continue to narrow down their own scope. They’ve reached their “functional plateau.” Now we’re in the land of diminishing returns: the code is clean, the UX is smooth, the core problem is solved.

Their competitors are doing the same. Over time, most teams will hit 'feature parity' with their competitors.

AI has already significantly lowered the barrier to creation. It's remarkable how quickly we can prototype digital experiences now compared to just a few years ago. By expanding who can participate in product development, AI is enabling a wider range of innovative ideas to reach consumers – ideas that might never have made it into the world otherwise.

However, we need to be mindful about how we apply AI when designing and building products. AI is, by default, trained on the internet’s average and AI will therefore also default to the internet average when creating something new. 

As a result, the functional plateau gets amplified: Many people will be able to build ’good enough’ products faster than ever. But so will their competitors, using the same models. And again, feature parity will strike. And if your only USP is a functional feature that works, your product risks becoming a commodity.

This means that to succeed, you’ll have to push beyond average. At Manyone, we’ve been exploring several mindsets to help teams, and the digital experiences they create, do just that.

Going beyond function isn’t always easy. To help, we created a simple model to provoke and inspire teams. We believe that truly iconic products, the ones that stick with customers, consist of three building blocks:

You still need extremely well-executed function. These are the features that make your experience operate smoothly and solve your customer’s basic needs. Since this layer often relies on established patterns, it’s likely the area where AI can deliver the greatest efficiency gains. But it’s important to remember: function is your baseline, and also where competitors will – with or without AI – quickly catch up.

Take Spotify as an example: streaming music is their core function. When they launched, no other service had all the major labels onboard, but today that functional advantage is gone.

This is where products begin to resonate – experiences that make customers feel something. Emotional experiences make customers love your product, enough to talk about it and recommend it. This is a powerful area for differentiation.

Returning to Spotify: they expanded beyond pure function to create features that evoke emotional connection. Discover Weekly still serves the core function of streaming music, but it does so in a way that sparks surprise, delight, and personal relevance.

These are the features that aspire to express something meaningful, either about the brand, or – even better – about the customer using it. This is where a deeper relationship forms between your product and its users.

In digital experiences, where switching costs are low and subscription models are common, iconic value must be earned continuously. Iconic products can’t be one trick ponies, they need to be sticky over time.

Take Spotify Wrapped, which gives users a way to share their music taste as an expression of who they are. By enabling this kind of identity-building behavior, Spotify strengthens its bond with customers.

As of now, AI isn’t great at suggesting or building features that break beyond the average. When all your competitors share the same baseline functionality, the new arenas to win are emotion and identity.

Eventually most products or experiences will face the functional plateau. At this state, continued optimization can be a trap. Teams that fail to recognize this risk becoming feature factories, releasing more functionality, while engagement metrics are flat.

Why wait until you’ve reached that point? The sooner you look beyond solving for just the obvious need, the better.

To escape the stagnation, it’s time to pivot from pure utility towards emotion and meaning. When function is already maximized, adding more features won’t move the needle. You must add a new layer of new value. Iconic value.