Meet the product designer going viral for his 'unhinged' ideas to improve apps — like nepotism disclosures on LinkedIn, and 'diet mode' for Uber Eats

• Soren Iverson is an LA-based product designer at fintech company Cash App.
• Since December 2022, he's also been posting ideas for what he calls "unhinged" app features on Twitter.
• Iverson's Twitter following has shot up from 2,000 to 72,000 since December.

What if  LinkedIn had a "nepotism" disclosure? Before you hired someone — or got too down on yourself — you'd know right away if someone landed their coveted role through years of climbing the corporate ladder, or if they'd gotten that plum position simply because they had the right relatives.

Of course, LinkedIn doesn't actually have a nepotism label. The "fake" label was designed by Soren Iverson, an LA-based product designer at the fintech company Cash App. 

"Smack that follow button for more ways to make LinkedIn more 'transparent,'" he tweeted earlier this month when he posted his design. 

Since December, Iverson has been posting mockups on Twitter for cheeky app features like the LinkedIn disclosure. 

In that time, Iverson's follower count has shot up from just around 2,000 to more than 72,000. Insider also verified that Iverson has 53 subscribers who pay $2.99 a month for "exclusive ideas." Iverson is also self-publishing a book with more than 100 of his ideas.  

Iverson said he was first inspired to create these designs after seeing posts about Spotify Wrapped, an actual feature from the streaming service that shows users their favorite songs, artists, and albums over the past year. 

He posed a thought exercise to himself: What would happens if apps implemented the same concept in a way that kind of missed the mark?

For example, what if at the end of the year DoorDash showed you how much money you spent at a particular restaurant or Starbucks showed you how many Caramel Macchiatos you drank in a year.  

—Soren Iverson (@soren_iverson) December 28, 2022

Iverson said people "reacted well" to his droll year-in-review posts. So, he began poking fun at the AI craze, especially the sudden fixation with ChatGPT. For example, he made a version of iMessage that can automatically respond to messages using ChatGPT. 

—Soren Iverson (@soren_iverson) January 3, 2023

These days, Iverson's posts lampoon a range of complaints across work culture, dating life, and our increasing dependence on technology. 

He's outlined a version of Google Docs that simplifies corporate jargon, an option to preview your date in augmented reality on Hinge, and an iMessage feature that lets users watch someone as they're typing a message. 

—Soren Iverson (@soren_iverson) May 5, 2023

Iverson said he aims to post new ideas at around 7 am Pacific every day. Sometimes, that means he's designing a batch of ideas over the weekend and pre-scheduling posts. Other times, it means he's uploading a new design to Twitter right before his deadline. The regimented schedule forces him to come up with fresh takes on a regular basis, he said. 

Iverson often describes his ideas as "unhinged." He said he still laughs every time he thinks about the Hinge AR feature because it's "so absurd."

What also makes his posts so entertaining, though, is how they elucidate genuine social problems — like the need for greater transparency in the corporate world — with an "absurb" dose of humor. 

Here are some of his greatest viral hits so far: