13 ms·

Or, you could say "Don't make me think": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_Make_Me_Think https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_Make_Me_Think Unfortunately

by tniemi 8y ago

Or, you could say "Don't make me think": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_Make_Me_Think https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_Make_Me_Think Unfortunately UX people seem to hate boring and/or simple stuff...

RealDinosaur 8y ago
It doesn't look good on a portfolio. If the mockups are boring then you have done your job well. The problem is that mockups that stand out, are what gets steak-holders interested. Some of my design work involved selling concepts, and the ones that sold were those that broke the UI conventions in some way. Those features that broke the conventions were then set in stone! Instant regret. Uniformity is bad! They want bright colors, low contrast text, and each page to be unique. If every page looks the same then they obviously are paying you too much. This is how lots of print designers get started in the web-industry, and wowing people is the main objective. UX doesn't come into it. The other thing that I've found happen, is business requirements sometimes further complicate the UI. We had a simple app that was a report of damages as part of a return process. This was mandated by the project manager to be displayed as a progress bar. Sofar as a vehicle that was 100% fucked would be 100% complete. I tried to push back with exclamation points for damaged areas, but progress bars were already sold to the customer.
- fipple 8y ago
  Mmm... steak-holders.
  - RealDinosaur 8y ago
    I wondered if anyone would pick up on that. :-)
- woogiewonka 8y ago
  If you have to sell yourself on a portfolio then you are talking to the wrong prospects. Some of my best clients have never seen my portfolio. Even the ones who start off with "where can I see some of your work" forget all about my portfolio by the time we are done speaking. If you do a proper job of explaining what your job entails, what the client gets out of it and where to focus priorities, you'll likely never need to show your previous work. Sadly, most junior UX wannabes don't understand this and continue to try and impress people with portfolios. They get the client they deserve. This does the industry no favors, but I could care less. Once that business is butt hurt by a previous designer and decides to commit to a real process, we can talk. If you are part of the problem, you don't get to complain. Be the one designer who does 80% data and 20% design. Just say "no" to stupid ideas and squash them like a bug. If you are an entrepreneur running a business, you are in charge. Do you tell a plumber how to do his job? No. Then act like the plumber and do things the right way and tell them to thank you later. Results speak for themselves.
superhuzza 8y ago
I think you're mistaking UX with UI design. UX people tend to advocate for simple, boring stuff because they test. Like you pointed out, UX professionals like Krug, Nielsen, Norman constantly advocate for boring navigation: "Users spend most of their time on other sites. This means that users prefer your site to work the same way as all the other sites they already know." - Jakob's Law of Internet User Experience However, someone simply designing UI will often suggest new and complicated designs, because they don't test. If they don't test, they are not practicing UX. Even if their job title is UX designer, they are just doing UI design. Disclaimer: Yes I am defending my UX job, which involves testing and face time with users :)
- reitanqild 8y ago
  Nielsen etc advocate boring, predicrable designs. A number of others seem to have mistaken simple and boring for dumb and useless. What happened to the familiar menu? UX Designers decided it wasn't simple enough and replaced it with hamburger menus and ribbons because "dumb users". I'm not saying you are one of these UX designers, but lets not pretend they aren't there cause they run the shop at most places it seems, including a number of places in FAANG land.
  - hopler 8y ago
    Try running Netscape on a 4" screen
    - nitrogen 8y ago
      640x480 is tiny compared to a modern phone...
      - reitanqild 8y ago
        Still, there is a point: even if we could easily see the design elements from Netscape 4 on a modern smartphone they'd be hard to hit consistently. So that is not what I argue above. In my post above I argue against the dumbification of desktop apps and websites. Things that were working until UX designers came up with the idea that people are to dumb.
myguysi 8y ago
UX people love boring and/or simple stuff. Source: am a UX designer It’s literally the whole point of the job.
- josefresco 8y ago
  To clarify ... A designer wants to make things look cool, a UX designer wants to make things boring. Both are wrong.
  - myguysi 8y ago
    I think that’s a gross oversimplification that completely misses the mark.
    - quacked 8y ago
      I'm going to get your comment tattooed on my hand and then slap people whenever they tell me their opinions in real life. (I'll also need to use it to slap myself.)
gaius 8y ago
Unfortunately UX people seem to hate boring and/or simple stuff... Many years ago I was working on a project for a major UK high street bank, and on the team was a designer who genuinely believed "users like a challenge". No users do not like a challenge. Users like spending the absolute minimum time possible doing their online banking, then they like getting on with their lives. I believe he later went on to win loads of awards... as judged by other designers. Anyway a large part of why the web sucks and runs like molasses is guys like that.
tabtab 8y ago
Re: Unfortunately UX people seem to hate boring and/or simple stuff... That's probably true of many professions. Our software architect got us stuck with microservices for example, which we don't need. He did it either because he's bored, or wanted to put something fancier on his resume. If not managed well, many employees go off the deep end. I admit, I've over-engineered parts of software for the sheer fun of it. But I try to limit my "experiments".

by tniemi 8y ago

RealDinosaur 8y ago

It doesn't look good on a portfolio. If the mockups are boring then you have done your job well. The problem is that mockups that stand out, are what gets steak-holders interested. Some of my design work involved selling concepts, and the ones that sold were those that broke the UI conventions in some way. Those features that broke the conventions were then set in stone! Instant regret. Uniformity is bad! They want bright colors, low contrast text, and each page to be unique. If every page looks the same then they obviously are paying you too much. This is how lots of print designers get started in the web-industry, and wowing people is the main objective. UX doesn't come into it. The other thing that I've found happen, is business requirements sometimes further complicate the UI. We had a simple app that was a report of damages as part of a return process. This was mandated by the project manager to be displayed as a progress bar. Sofar as a vehicle that was 100% fucked would be 100% complete. I tried to push back with exclamation points for damaged areas, but progress bars were already sold to the customer.

fipple 8y ago
Mmm... steak-holders.
- RealDinosaur 8y ago
  I wondered if anyone would pick up on that. :-)
woogiewonka 8y ago
If you have to sell yourself on a portfolio then you are talking to the wrong prospects. Some of my best clients have never seen my portfolio. Even the ones who start off with "where can I see some of your work" forget all about my portfolio by the time we are done speaking. If you do a proper job of explaining what your job entails, what the client gets out of it and where to focus priorities, you'll likely never need to show your previous work. Sadly, most junior UX wannabes don't understand this and continue to try and impress people with portfolios. They get the client they deserve. This does the industry no favors, but I could care less. Once that business is butt hurt by a previous designer and decides to commit to a real process, we can talk. If you are part of the problem, you don't get to complain. Be the one designer who does 80% data and 20% design. Just say "no" to stupid ideas and squash them like a bug. If you are an entrepreneur running a business, you are in charge. Do you tell a plumber how to do his job? No. Then act like the plumber and do things the right way and tell them to thank you later. Results speak for themselves.

superhuzza 8y ago

I think you're mistaking UX with UI design. UX people tend to advocate for simple, boring stuff because they test. Like you pointed out, UX professionals like Krug, Nielsen, Norman constantly advocate for boring navigation: "Users spend most of their time on other sites. This means that users prefer your site to work the same way as all the other sites they already know." - Jakob's Law of Internet User Experience However, someone simply designing UI will often suggest new and complicated designs, because they don't test. If they don't test, they are not practicing UX. Even if their job title is UX designer, they are just doing UI design. Disclaimer: Yes I am defending my UX job, which involves testing and face time with users :)

reitanqild 8y ago
Nielsen etc advocate boring, predicrable designs. A number of others seem to have mistaken simple and boring for dumb and useless. What happened to the familiar menu? UX Designers decided it wasn't simple enough and replaced it with hamburger menus and ribbons because "dumb users". I'm not saying you are one of these UX designers, but lets not pretend they aren't there cause they run the shop at most places it seems, including a number of places in FAANG land.
- hopler 8y ago
  Try running Netscape on a 4" screen
  - nitrogen 8y ago
    640x480 is tiny compared to a modern phone...
    - reitanqild 8y ago
      Still, there is a point: even if we could easily see the design elements from Netscape 4 on a modern smartphone they'd be hard to hit consistently. So that is not what I argue above. In my post above I argue against the dumbification of desktop apps and websites. Things that were working until UX designers came up with the idea that people are to dumb.

myguysi 8y ago

UX people love boring and/or simple stuff. Source: am a UX designer It’s literally the whole point of the job.

josefresco 8y ago
To clarify ... A designer wants to make things look cool, a UX designer wants to make things boring. Both are wrong.
- myguysi 8y ago
  I think that’s a gross oversimplification that completely misses the mark.
  - quacked 8y ago
    I'm going to get your comment tattooed on my hand and then slap people whenever they tell me their opinions in real life. (I'll also need to use it to slap myself.)

gaius 8y ago

Unfortunately UX people seem to hate boring and/or simple stuff... Many years ago I was working on a project for a major UK high street bank, and on the team was a designer who genuinely believed "users like a challenge". No users do not like a challenge. Users like spending the absolute minimum time possible doing their online banking, then they like getting on with their lives. I believe he later went on to win loads of awards... as judged by other designers. Anyway a large part of why the web sucks and runs like molasses is guys like that.

tabtab 8y ago

Re: Unfortunately UX people seem to hate boring and/or simple stuff... That's probably true of many professions. Our software architect got us stuck with microservices for example, which we don't need. He did it either because he's bored, or wanted to put something fancier on his resume. If not managed well, many employees go off the deep end. I admit, I've over-engineered parts of software for the sheer fun of it. But I try to limit my "experiments".