Introduction
Empty states appear when there's no data to display—a user's first interaction with many features. Despite being critical moments in the user experience, empty states are often designed inconsistently or as afterthoughts.
This analysis examines how 10 leading enterprise systems (Notion, Slack, Figma, Linear, GitHub, Stripe, Retool, Atlassian, Asana, Airtable) handle empty states across different contexts: first-time use, search results, filtered views, messaging, settings, dashboards, and more.
Pattern Analysis Chapters
Visual Patterns
We identified 6 distinct visual patterns used across the 119 instances. This chapter breaks down each pattern with frequency data, explains when each appears, and shows which systems use which approaches.
This chapter covers:
- Icon-based patterns and when they're used
- Illustration-based patterns and their contexts
- Text-only approaches
- Specialized patterns (dashboards, grids, modals)
- System-by-system visual preferences
Explore Visual Patterns
Microcopy Analysis
Every headline, body text, and CTA was quantified and analyzed. This chapter reveals how microcopy varies by context, product type, and user journey stage—with data on word counts, tone patterns, and verb frequencies.