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There's a lot of bashing on UX/UI design in this post. As former developer that switched careers to it, I think that most of the comments are not being fair. I

by edu 3y ago

There's a lot of bashing on UX/UI design in this post. As former developer that switched careers to it, I think that most of the comments are not being fair. In the 90s most people had a very hard time using a computer, software came with thick manuals and often they found themselves in situation where needed help. Nowadays people from all ages use software for many aspects of their life, they interact with their banks, shop online, do their taxes, communicate, interact with their governments... through software. People ranging from kids to elders. Expecting to open an app/web and being able to use it directly, without reading a manual or a help center. This is a great amount of progress. Over this, you've to take into account that often there's a big gap between the design and the implementation due to many causes (business requirements, deadlines, committees, hurry to release, technical limitations...) Of course, the field it's not perfect and there's many designers that are not great, or are entitled pricks. But I'd say that design (call it UX/UI, product, HCI, IxD, whatever flavour of the day) has added a lot of value to the table and helped make technology as ubiquitous as it's today.

lucisferre 3y ago
There are certainly a lot of problems with software design and UI design is a key part of that problem, but there is plenty of blame to go around. The software developers in these comments seem to strongly believe that UX research holds a disproportionate portion of the blame rather than seeing the flaws of poor design and a low bar for quality products as a shared responsibility. Perhaps this is simply a product of how we are used to teams running. Not really a cohesive whole focused together on a goal, but rather independent and waring feifdoms: UI/UX, development, QA, management, each focused on their one responsibility and blaming the others for poor results.
JohnFen 3y ago
> I'd say that design (call it UX/UI, product, HCI, IxD, whatever flavour of the day) has added a lot of value to the table and helped make technology as ubiquitous as it's today. Maybe so, maybe not. I don't have data to help me determine that. But what I do know is that software has been getting less usable for me over at least the last decade, and I blame the UX field generally for it. Perhaps it's that what makes something usable for a newcomer does the opposite for a knowledgeable user. Or perhaps it's that the value of technology brings to people means that it's become ubiquitous in spite of modern UX design decisions. All I know is that the majority of the time that software really frustrates me, it's been a direct result of current UX fashions.

by edu 3y ago

lucisferre 3y ago

There are certainly a lot of problems with software design and UI design is a key part of that problem, but there is plenty of blame to go around. The software developers in these comments seem to strongly believe that UX research holds a disproportionate portion of the blame rather than seeing the flaws of poor design and a low bar for quality products as a shared responsibility. Perhaps this is simply a product of how we are used to teams running. Not really a cohesive whole focused together on a goal, but rather independent and waring feifdoms: UI/UX, development, QA, management, each focused on their one responsibility and blaming the others for poor results.

JohnFen 3y ago

> I'd say that design (call it UX/UI, product, HCI, IxD, whatever flavour of the day) has added a lot of value to the table and helped make technology as ubiquitous as it's today. Maybe so, maybe not. I don't have data to help me determine that. But what I do know is that software has been getting less usable for me over at least the last decade, and I blame the UX field generally for it. Perhaps it's that what makes something usable for a newcomer does the opposite for a knowledgeable user. Or perhaps it's that the value of technology brings to people means that it's become ubiquitous in spite of modern UX design decisions. All I know is that the majority of the time that software really frustrates me, it's been a direct result of current UX fashions.