Insights & Ideas

What Would a superhero Do in Your App? How Comics Can Teach Us UX/UI

Archetypes Behind the Mask

Unlike typical “user personas” that often feel generic or lifeless, comic book characters are full of personality. They have backstories, conflicts, desires, contradictions. That makes them feel a lot closer to the real people using your product.

Think about Batman: always calculating, obsessed with control. If he were a user, he’d want a fast, precise interface. Clear stats, minimal fluff, zero unnecessary animations.

Now picture Spider-Man: young, curious, constantly juggling things. He’d need something fast, flexible, intuitive. And if we consider Harley Quinn, everything changes — she’d thrive in chaos, crave surprise elements, flashy visuals, and spontaneity. Could your product survive that?

Characters like these help us project extreme user types, but also understand nuances. Because behind every hero or villain lies a core human need. And that’s exactly what we aim to grasp in UX — what drives people, what frustrates them, what hooks them in.

Designing as if You’re Telling a Story

One thing comics do really well — and something we sometimes forget in UX — is telling a story. Every panel is a carefully made visual decision. Each frame guides your eye. Every line of dialogue gives context. Sounds familiar? It’s not that different from designing user flows or wireframes.

That’s why it helps to imagine your app like a comic. Not just visually (though that could be fun too), but structurally. What does the user want? What gets in their way? What allies help them move forward? Where’s the climax of their experience?

You can even try this in a workshop: “Okay, here’s a new feature. How would someone like Magneto use it? What would Raven expect? What if our user were a mix of Tony Stark and an anxious teenager?”

This kind of exercise isn’t just fun — it sparks empathy. It takes you out of the autopilot mode of “the user clicks here” and into “this person needs to feel in control / needs to know they won’t make a mistake / needs to trust what’s in front of them.”

From Comic to Prototype: Making It Real

So how do you apply all this in your actual design work? You don’t need to be a die-hard comics fan (though that helps). You don’t even need to fill your office with action figures (tempting, I know). You just need to bring this archetype logic into your user thinking.

Here are a few simple ways to start:

• Build character-driven user personas.

  Instead of creating generic user cards, use pop culture references everyone knows. “This profile is like Professor X: wise, patient, has physical limitations.” That alone communicates a ton.

• Test flows using extreme scenarios.

  What happens if the user is super impatient, like Deadpool? Or needs logical, step-by-step processes, like Vision? These scenarios pressure-test your design’s weak spots.

• Tell the journey like it’s a comic panel.

  Instead of just showing a cold series of screens, tell the story. “Here, Iron Man opens the dashboard. He wants everything visible at a glance. If something takes longer than two seconds to load, he’s out. Here we give him the option to customize. Here he sees his data and feels in control.” It keeps everyone focused on the experience.

And if you’re working on branding, the same logic applies. Is your brand more like Kick-Ass — young and rebellious — or more like Wonder Woman — inspiring and noble? Does your tone sound like Alfred’s calm voice or Tony Stark with a coffee in hand?

In Short: Your Users Have Superpowers Too

Designing with comic archetypes in mind is more than a fun geeky trick. It’s a powerful way to approach people emotionally, narratively, and visually. It forces us to leave behind spreadsheets and embrace the story we want users to live.

Because great experiences aren’t just pretty interfaces — they’re decisions made with empathy and purpose. Just like a great story.

So next time you’re deep into your Figma file, ask yourself:

What would Batman do on this screen?

And if you’re unsure, maybe ask Deadpool too. A little chaos never hurts.