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Cover image for 🧠 Free Code Challenges, UX Trends Shaping 2025 & Duolingo's Retention Playbook
Adam Marsden
Adam Marsden

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🧠 Free Code Challenges, UX Trends Shaping 2025 & Duolingo's Retention Playbook

Hey 👋

Hope you’re having an awesome week! In this edition, we’ve got some really cool stuff to share—tips on designing like Apple, cracking Duolingo’s retention secrets, and even making your SVGs come to life 🎨.

Plus, don’t miss the upcoming events or those tiny tweaks that can take your skills to the next level.

Oh, and if the travel bug has bitten you, our sponsor has some amazing hacks for digital nomads 🌍.

Enjoy 🦄 - Adam at Unicorn Club.

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🧑‍💻 Front-end

Solved By Modern CSS: Feature Image

Using container queries and CSS :has() to build a feature image.

Responsive Tables & Readable Paragraphs

Episode informational summaries in a particular layout where the small screen layout had a horribly obnoxious side effect.

An Introduction To CSS Scroll-Driven Animations: Scroll And View Progress Timelines

It’s been 10 years since scroll-driven animations were introduced in a spec proposal, and after five years in development, we’re finally beginning to see pop up in websites.

🧠 UX

The State of UX in 2025

Things have been feeling differently for a while. That UX buzz, that peak we hit in the late 2010s, has faded.

Duolingo's User Retention: 8 Tactics Tested On 300 Million Users

Top 8 user retention tactics (and the psychology behind them), as well as behind-the-scenes stats and facts to help your product.


The Font That Changed IKEA ✏️

In 2009, IKEA switched its catalog font from Futura to Verdana, sparking a huge design controversy. Why Verdana? It’s more readable on screens but came at the cost of ruining IKEA's iconic design consistency, teaching us how brand identity can clash with functionality.

Learn more →


🎨 Design

"Design like Apple"

More accurately — prioritize simplicity like Apple across all functions.

🛠️ Resources + Tools

vivus, bringing your SVGs to life

Vivus is a lightweight JavaScript class (with no dependencies) that allows you to animate SVGs, giving them the appearance of being drawn.

Coding challenges for front-end developers.

Browse the wide range of community-made coding challenges or design your own for other to solve. Codier is the perfect place to grow your front-end development skills.

🗓️ Upcoming Events

Check out these events.

💬 How to Develop Strong PM Communication Skills

January 17, 2025 - Virtual (Zoom)

Learn how to improve your communication skills as a PM with insights from Satish Mummareddy, a seasoned product leader with 20+ years of experience.

🧠 ConveyUX

February 25-27, 2025 - Seattle & Online

ConveyUX 2025 dates are set for February 25-27. We look forward to hosting our UX colleagues in-person in Seattle and virtually. Registration is open.


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Thanks for reading ❤️

Adam from Unicorn Club

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