5 fuckups I’ve made as a UX designer
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I’ve been designing digital experiences for some 10–15 years. From immersed learning experiences to web sites and digital services for almost every industry. Except the worst polluters, we don’t work with you guys. (but maybe we should, in the sake of designing for change)
I thought I’d might share some of the major mistakes I’ve made during my career so far. Hopefully helping some other people avoiding these pitfalls. Here it goes.
#1 Not fighting vigorously enough to meet real users
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Although the attitude towards user research has mellowed a lot over the last years, now and then I still meet resistance when trying to get access to end users.
I’ve met Arguments like:
- That’s an additional cost we cannot motivate.
- Our users are all different — you can’t draw any conclusions from meeting just a couple of them. Hence, it’s waste of time.
- We know our users already, you can just ask us.
- We can’t give access to our users due to legal or safety reasons.
A few times (actually more than that) I have just resigned. Ok, fine. We’ll just try our best and design from what we know. Parts where we get it wrong will rise to the surface once we launch the first version. And then we’ll just fix it in the next version.
Nope, doesn’t work that way. At best, the client realizes the users aren’t happy with the result. Then there’s a big chance it’s all your fault. And that next version you were planning for will probably be assigned to someone else.
At worst, they carry on believing they have a nice digital service with happy users. Until their users leave, and they’re out of business.
#2 Applying behavioral theories
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I’m an academic. I’ve read and studied a lot on how people function, how the mind works and how people feel and behave, in singular and in plural. One might think then, that just applying the suitable theory of human behavior to your digital design, would lead to the desired effect. Wrong. Different people interacting with digital tools in various surroundings — that’s a complete mess. Far from your average behavioral science lab trying to isolate that single variable.
Unless there is substantial ecological validity to your behavioral insights — they should be treated as inspiration, at best. Ironically, that’s kind of the basics and fundamentals of interaction design — things don’t actually work until you have witnessed it work as intended. In the wild. With real people. In real settings.
User experience is practical work, not theorization.
#3 Cheating on research & inspiration
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No project has unlimited resources. At least not the ones I’ve worked in until now. Securing a delivery on time and within budget, it may be tempting to cut out or limit the research activities. I’ve done UX design for some time now, I have gathered some experience from previous projects — why shouldn’t I just go from there, right?
Sure, pulling out that same old rabbit from the hat might work for some clients. But reaching those last 25 % that makes a digital service an experience, not just another artifact — there is no other option than to dig in and learn all you can about the actual phenomena you are designing for.
It’s about experiencing and understanding the world as your user do. And then combining your profession with those insights, creating true innovation for that specific phenomena. It is not about swinging the bat and hope for a hit.
#4 Forcing a design process they’re not ready for
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Perhaps we’ve all been there. Contemplating on the previous project, discussing design processes with friends and colleagues, reading that latest book on it, attending that workshop. All psyched up and ready to fire off the perfect process onto the next project and client.
But your next client haven’t thought about this as much as you did, have they? Tapping in to the overall design maturity of that specific organization is really, really important. I have realized that now, but it took a while.
Starting off with an organization that treats design as mere shape and figures, it’s pointless to dive in to design thinking as a core part of their business development. There are a couple of things that needs to be in place before that.
It is all about taking baby steps. However frustrating it may be, the end result of any design work can’t reach any further than the organization lets it. Learning to crawl before you can walk, or whatever cliche you want to apply.
#5 Thinking you know this best
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At the beginning of my career I thought of myself as one of few formally trained interaction designers. Enthusiasts with various backgrounds in visual design, development or just a keen interest in digital artifacts — just couldn’t back up their ideas or solutions with the right arguments.
Thats just dumb, of course. A good idea is a good idea, no matter who comes up with it. I have realized the value of keeping eyes and ears open for other peoples suggestions on how to solve the problems at hand. It is a very efficient way to make use of all that brain power around you.
This might be a bit of a poop-sandwich to chew on. That other guy, or even the client, might end up solving problems you were hired to fix. Listening to others perhaps won’t give you more time in the spotlight, but it will surely give you smarter design.
#6 Taking it too seriously
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I’m a UX designer, not a surgeon at the intensive care unit. Users might actually have been fine with any of those alternate designs where I so carefully weighed the pros and cons. And perhaps design isn’t important in Every, Single, Detail. It might just be that a little quirkyness or flaw in the design actually makes it fun to use. That little piece that shouldn’t actually be there.
We are One Day Interact. We design and code for humans, machines and a brighter future. Talk with us at: www.onedayinteract.se