Spectrum Chat Previous Sign-in Help

✋ What is it?

This is a solution found in the login screen of Spectrum (https://spectrum.chat). It helps Spectrum users to remember which authentication provider did they use the last time they logged-in (or when they signed-up).

🤲 How does this interaction or solution work?

When Spectrum users sign-up, they are presented with three possible authentication providers (Twitter, Facebook, and Google). After users sign-up, there's a small chance that the users will log-out after finishing their activity in Spectrum.

Since Spectrum is a service that might be used less regularly than other services (like the ones provided by the authenticators), it's very likely that users will forget which of the sign-up option they chose when they joined Spectrum.

Spectrum adds a small affordance above the sign-in button(s) to remind the users which authentication service was used the last time they visited that page.

Note: This solution uses browser cookies. The solution will not work when users voluntarily or involuntarily remove their browsing cookies.

🙌 How does this interaction or solution work?

Keeping Context and Recall Aid.

Internet navigation is a convoluted activity that implies logging-in into multiple services and interacting with various systems. Although this little solution doesn't add a disruptive amount of value, it certainly helps users to keep a stable context, and it decreases the cognitive load of remembering what service did they use to sign-up.