Every error message is a conversation between a machine and a human. And most of the time, it’s a terrible one.
When your app says “Something went wrong”, it’s not being vague for fun — it’s being lazy. It’s pushing its confusion onto the user, turning technical failure into emotional frustration.
A well-written error message does more than report a problem; it builds trust. It tells users you respect their time and attention. It provides context, not panic. It doesn’t need to expose internals — just clarity.
Imagine your user spent an hour writing something and your system fails to save it. Which message feels better:
“Error 502: Bad Gateway.”
or
“Your work couldn’t be saved because our servers are overloaded. Please retry in a minute — it’s safe to refresh.”
That’s empathy in code form.
Human-centered design doesn’t end at color palettes. It extends to language, tone, and the way we respond to failure. Because the moment your app fails is when it’s most human — and most tested.
Error messages are the voice of your system. Make them kind, not cold.
