I heard that votes have been changed to behave closer to how people would expect, and boost is staying here as well. So I had an idea how to bring it all together in the interface.
Sidenote: you don’t have to click the links here, the images are also posted inline in the comments below.
An app (either Artemis or an official one) might use a swipe gesture to visually hint at the relation between upvoting and boosting, as shown in the attached animation. Here’s a static app mockup with both swipe levels displayed. I’d also imagine that there should be a setting that auto-upvotes posts when boosting.
And on the web, it’s probably a good idea to consolidate all the voting buttons into a single block by adding an additional button at the top.
Edit: I’m disappointed in you guys. How come no one noticed the memes? :)
Agreed - I think it needs to be distinct, but could still be an arrow. Maybe an arrow that curves to the right, like an email “forward” button? That’s kind of how I think of a boost - a forward to everyone who follows me.