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"New, newer, newest User Experience" https://about.gitlab.com/2012/01/13/design-changes/ https://about.gitlab.com/2012/01/13/design-changes/ https://about.git

"New, newer, newest User Experience" https://about.gitlab.com/2012/01/13/design-changes/ https://about.gitlab.com/2012/01/13/design-changes/ https://about.gitlab.com/2017/07/17/redesigning-gitlabs-navigation/ https://about.gitlab.com/2017/07/17/redesigning-gitlabs-navi... https://about.gitlab.com/2016/06/06/navigation-redesign/ https://about.gitlab.com/2016/06/06/navigation-redesign/ https://about.gitlab.com/2017/09/13/unveiling-gitlabs-new-navigation/ https://about.gitlab.com/2017/09/13/unveiling-gitlabs-new-na...

mch82 9y ago
Cool set of links to pull together. Nice UI evolution case study for designers to look through. Thanks! Edit: Do the images in the earliest post display for others? I see image missing placeholder icons.
- ship_it 9y ago
  Agree, they really heading to the right way. Btw. can't load images from the first link too!
- connorshea 9y ago
  They don't load for me either, most likely a problem from when we rewrote most of the about.gitlab.com website last year. I'll look into it, I'm also interested to see what it looked like in 2012 :D EDIT: It looks like the images are attempting to load from an old Wordpress blog which is no longer around, with a quick search I couldn't seem to find anything with similar file names in the current website repository :(
  - bdcravens 9y ago
    https://about.gitlab.com/2012/07/17/gitlab-2-dot-7/ https://about.gitlab.com/2012/07/17/gitlab-2-dot-7/
- bdcravens 9y ago
  https://about.gitlab.com/2012/07/17/gitlab-2-dot-7/ https://about.gitlab.com/2012/07/17/gitlab-2-dot-7/
andrewstuart2 9y ago
There's nothing wrong with iterating user interface design for better UX, especially when you've made reasoned decisions, based on feedback and user research, as to why the new designs will be helpful to your user base. Read through the links you've listed, and you'll notice that the latest changes are all based on usability testing and direct user feedback. In my opinion, they're doing everything right here. They're not changing designs because some designer disliked the color or popup animations. They're arranging their functional components to align with what they're finding (experimentally) is most usable for their user base.
- carussell 9y ago
  I followed the issue on iterating for the redesign. I wouldn't say they followed any experimental methods very closely for this release. It very much came off as something where they picked a release date ahead of time and decided that's when they'd ship. New iterations didn't follow a continuous plan-do-check loop; everything was handled more like do something, get feedback, figure out something that you feel addresses that feedback, and then consider it done. I don't know whether this comes off like I'm complaining. That's not what it's supposed to be. (I actually liked the [original] redesign announced over the summer.) I'm just here to explain what I saw.
  - svesselov 9y ago
    "New iterations didn't follow a continuous plan-do-check loop; everything was handled more like do something, get feedback, figure out something that you feel addresses that feedback, and then consider it done." We are never done. We will always be iterating and improving. Much of the feedback we received confirmed assumptions we already had but wanted to test, such as collapsing the navigation, improving breadcrumbs, etc. Other feedback was new and we were challenged to solve those. Everything that was added to this release will undergo a round of user testing and be subject to iteration. It does not sound like a complaint at all @carussell, thanks for the feedback.
- svesselov 9y ago
  Thanks, Andrew, this is exactly what I was going to point to. We are making sure to base our UX changes on actual user feedback and research. I would also say that GitLab's UX has to evolve in pace with the product. As we add features to support 'idea to production', we need to make them easy to find and intuitive to use.

mch82 9y ago

Cool set of links to pull together. Nice UI evolution case study for designers to look through. Thanks! Edit: Do the images in the earliest post display for others? I see image missing placeholder icons.

ship_it 9y ago
Agree, they really heading to the right way. Btw. can't load images from the first link too!
connorshea 9y ago
They don't load for me either, most likely a problem from when we rewrote most of the about.gitlab.com website last year. I'll look into it, I'm also interested to see what it looked like in 2012 :D EDIT: It looks like the images are attempting to load from an old Wordpress blog which is no longer around, with a quick search I couldn't seem to find anything with similar file names in the current website repository :(
- bdcravens 9y ago
  https://about.gitlab.com/2012/07/17/gitlab-2-dot-7/ https://about.gitlab.com/2012/07/17/gitlab-2-dot-7/
bdcravens 9y ago
https://about.gitlab.com/2012/07/17/gitlab-2-dot-7/ https://about.gitlab.com/2012/07/17/gitlab-2-dot-7/

andrewstuart2 9y ago

There's nothing wrong with iterating user interface design for better UX, especially when you've made reasoned decisions, based on feedback and user research, as to why the new designs will be helpful to your user base. Read through the links you've listed, and you'll notice that the latest changes are all based on usability testing and direct user feedback. In my opinion, they're doing everything right here. They're not changing designs because some designer disliked the color or popup animations. They're arranging their functional components to align with what they're finding (experimentally) is most usable for their user base.

carussell 9y ago
I followed the issue on iterating for the redesign. I wouldn't say they followed any experimental methods very closely for this release. It very much came off as something where they picked a release date ahead of time and decided that's when they'd ship. New iterations didn't follow a continuous plan-do-check loop; everything was handled more like do something, get feedback, figure out something that you feel addresses that feedback, and then consider it done. I don't know whether this comes off like I'm complaining. That's not what it's supposed to be. (I actually liked the [original] redesign announced over the summer.) I'm just here to explain what I saw.
- svesselov 9y ago
  "New iterations didn't follow a continuous plan-do-check loop; everything was handled more like do something, get feedback, figure out something that you feel addresses that feedback, and then consider it done." We are never done. We will always be iterating and improving. Much of the feedback we received confirmed assumptions we already had but wanted to test, such as collapsing the navigation, improving breadcrumbs, etc. Other feedback was new and we were challenged to solve those. Everything that was added to this release will undergo a round of user testing and be subject to iteration. It does not sound like a complaint at all @carussell, thanks for the feedback.
svesselov 9y ago
Thanks, Andrew, this is exactly what I was going to point to. We are making sure to base our UX changes on actual user feedback and research. I would also say that GitLab's UX has to evolve in pace with the product. As we add features to support 'idea to production', we need to make them easy to find and intuitive to use.