Context

While designing and iterating on a UI project in Stitch with Google, I generated multiple project files across different exploration phases. As the number of projects increased, routine maintenance actions such as renaming or deleting unused projects became frequent, revealing an unexpected friction point in the workflow.

The Experience

From the All Projects screen, each project appeared as a static card.

Naturally, I hovered over a project, expecting a familiar three-dot (⋮) menu — a common interaction pattern across modern productivity tools.

Nothing appeared.

To delete a project, I had to:

The current flow — 4 unnecessary steps

1
Open the project
2
Locate the hamburger menu in the top-left corner
3
Perform the action
4
Confirm the action
Current Google Stitch flow — opening project to access delete/rename

The current 4-step flow to perform a simple housekeeping action — open project → hamburger → action → confirm

This felt unnecessarily heavy for a lightweight task.

The Friction

What should have been a 2-second housekeeping action turned into a multi-step workflow.

My mental model expected project-level actions at the project list level
The system required context switching without clear justification
Repeating this flow across multiple projects quickly became frustrating
The product was functional but not efficient

Insight

The issue wasn't missing functionality. It was misplaced functionality.

Project-level actions were buried inside the project, violating common UX conventions and increasing interaction cost.

Opportunity

By introducing a hover-based 3-dot menu on project cards (similar to Google Gemini):

What changes

  • Users could manage projects without opening them
  • The interface would align with industry standards
  • Cognitive and operational load would drop significantly
Proposed solution — hover-based 3-dot menu on Google Stitch project cards

The proposed fix — a hover-triggered ⋮ menu on each project card. Rename, delete, duplicate — without ever opening the project.

Outcome (Expected)

⚡
Faster project management — housekeeping done in 1 click, not 4
🎛
Improved sense of control — actions are where users expect them
🔋
Reduced friction for power users — managing many projects becomes effortless
🧘
A calmer, more predictable experience — no context switching anxiety

Psychology Principles Involved

🧠
Cognitive Load
Reduces mental effort for routine tasks by surfacing actions at the expected location.
🗺
Mental Models
Matches user expectations formed from other tools — Google Drive, Notion, Figma, VS Code all use hover-menus on cards.
🔄
Context Switching Cost
Minimizes unnecessary mode changes — no more opening a project just to delete it.
🔁
Habit Formation
Reinforces familiar interaction patterns already established across the user's tool stack.
⚖
Decision Fatigue
Fewer steps reduce friction over time — especially for power users managing dozens of projects.