Designers will often talk about delight in reference to their designs. What they mean are details in the product that are unexpected or whimsical. These are often animations or behaviors that go beyond the purely pragmatic and add character to a product. The way the physics of a button press behave or the feedback provided from an interaction are typical examples of delight in the design context.

Designers care a lot about these details. They create value in the form of emotional contribution. Since many of these details are subtle and almost subconscious, designers will unearth them and share them with other designers. They will fetishize these details.

Designers who create them gain recognition in the design community. This leads to a belief that this is not only the job of a designer but its highest calling. As a result, designers will spend a lot of time trying to design small details or interactions.

These details are great and even if not valued by the average user of your product they are worth spending time on. Every product team should build some amount of them. But knowing when to include them in the product requires thought.

Too many designers will try to get these things into early builds or even v1s before product market fit is established.

It is helpful to remember the Shaker philosophy:

Don’t make something unless it is both necessary and useful;
but if it is both necessary and useful,
don’t hesitate to make it beautiful.

Beauty has two preconditions, necessary and useful. Those two conditions need to be satisfied before you can design for delight.