My biggest gripe with other similar launchers that can also create folders is that they always have an icon with 4 miniature icons on the cover. I wish that another one would give you the option of showing them as stacked instead. It just looks much less cluttered to me that way. I'm just glad I purchased the premium version before Nova got sold off, no ads (so far anyway).

I made pseudo folders by applying tags to apps I wanted to group, gave that tag an emoji, added a few app boxes to the widget page, and added the tags I wanted quick access to into those app boxes. Result looks like this.

I disabled the automatic search on mine. So opening the app drawer doesnt automatically prompt searching.

I just open the app drawer by sliding up from the bottom and tap the app I want to open. I set the favorites section with everything I need most often. And the 5 apps on the dock home screen dock for my absolute most frequent apps. Most apps that aren't in either of those sections are ones I rarely open anyway.