Design files show the product full of data. Every user experiences it empty first, and a meaningful number never get past that. The states omitted from the design are the ones a developer invents under deadline, which is why they are so often the weakest part of a product.
Five states, not one
Every view that loads data has at least five: empty because it is new, empty because a filter matched nothing, loading, error, and populated. Only the last is usually designed. The other four are where users get stuck, and they cost minutes to specify at design time versus hours to retrofit.
Every screen has five states. Design files usually contain one.
Empty-because-new is an opportunity
This state has the user's full attention and no competing content. It should explain what belongs here, show what it looks like when populated, and offer one obvious action. A blank area with 'No items' wastes the single best teaching moment in the product.
Filtered-empty is a different screen
Showing the new-user empty state when a search returned nothing is disorienting — the user knows there is data. This state should confirm the filter, show the count it excluded, and offer a single click to clear it. Conflating the two is one of the most common product bugs we see.
Skeletons over spinners
A spinner communicates only that something is happening. A skeleton matching the eventual layout communicates what is coming and makes the wait feel shorter, because the page stops shifting when content arrives. It also prevents the layout jump that makes people mis-click.
Errors need a next action
'Something went wrong' tells the user nothing and offers no recovery. State what failed, whether it is worth retrying, whether their work was saved, and give a route forward. Keep a reference identifier visible so support can find the trace rather than asking the user to describe it.
Write them into the design
The practical fix is a design review checklist: no screen ships without all five states specified. It takes minutes per screen and removes the situation where a developer invents an empty state at 6pm on the day of a release.
