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> I think in general there is this trend in UX toward treating users as helpless children, and it's a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you take away someo
by tablespoon 5y ago
> I think in general there is this trend in UX toward treating users as helpless children, and it's a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you take away someone's agency, then yes absolutely they will be helpless. They will learn to be helpless, to act like children. I don't think that's something we want to aim for in general. It's bad for society and disastrous for democracy.
On a similar note, constantly redesigning UI just to redesign them encourages this too -- why develop expertise or skill when it will be undermined because some UX designer wants to make his mark?
I get the strong impression that UX has stopped being about the users and has become more about the designer's ego or his employer's interests. It's the best explanation I can think of for all the redesigns that no one wanted or asked for.
IMHO, the first questions any UX designer should ask themselves are:
1. Is the new design a useless side-grade from what we already have (i.e. just doing something differently to do it differently)?
2. Are the advantages over the existing design significant? Is it really worth invalidating existing user knowledge?
I've had a few run-ins with UI designers and architects (of the building kind) as an end user, and they've left a sour taste in my mouth. A lot of dismissing user feedback with pablum about "change being hard" or insistence that the changes are popular with some silent majority.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- _tom_ 5y agoI'd have to disagree. Most changes, at least at large companies, are driven by dollars, not ego. A small change in user engagement can mean millions in revenue. Or billions, in the largest cases. Things are extensively a/b tested to validate that the change drives revenue. And most companies are fine with forcing the user to learn, as long at it increases profits.
- marginalia_nu 5y agoDunno, my experience with large companies is that there is a lot of office politics, some are making overtures for career advancement by short-sighted but ostensibly profitable changes they hope will be noticed by higher-ups, others want to protect their fiefdom by sabotaging and delaying up-and-comers. Most everyone is looking at their paycheck and status, not the bottom line.
- saagarjha 5y agoIt is very easy to tip an A/B test in the direction you'd like it to go by picking what you measure and handwaving away bad metrics.