UX Collective

We believe designers are thinkers as much as they are makers. https://linktr.ee/uxc

Follow publication

Boring designs, 4 pillars of content design, wrist UX, designing for AI

Fabricio Teixeira
UX Collective
Published in
Sent as a

Newsletter

3 min readJan 27, 2025

--

“Today we’re building boring products because we struggle to go much deeper than ‘I’m alright’. Going deeper is the difference between experiencing the Sagrada Familia and The Telephone Building. One, with organic, flowing forms and intricate details, evokes a sense of awe and wonder that connects us to something greater than ourselves. The other, with a stark, utilitarian design leaves us feeling uninspired and disconnected from our deeper humanity.

It probably goes without saying, but just like skills without emotional depth result in machine-like experiences, so do deep emotions without skill result in products that feel disjointed. You need both.”

Beautiful, boring, and without soul

Editor picks

The UX Collective is an independent design publication that elevates unheard design voices and helps designers think more critically about their work.

Make me think

  • Why the ‘none of the above’ checkbox pattern worries me
    ”I know the team who did this work. They’re top class and the whole service was designed to a high standard. But this research-approved design pattern has me a little worried.”
  • Who is the internet for?
    ”I’ve been designing interfaces for two decades now, and when I look at the modern web, I see a landscape increasingly shaped not by human needs but by machine logic — a vast network of APIs, algorithms, and automated systems talking to each other in languages we never hear. Yes, “we” wrote those languages, but let’s be honest: “we” isn’t most of us.”
  • The web is a creative industry and is facing the same decline and shattered economics as film, TV, or publishing
    ”The web developer job market is in a sorry state. Software developers in general don’t seem to be doing well. Too many work for free on free or open source projects they believe in — some because they think it’ll pay off for their careers down the line, others because they just really believe in the project.”

Tools and resources

Support the newsletter

If you find our content helpful, here’s how you can support us:

Sign up to discover human stories that deepen your understanding of the world.

Free

Distraction-free reading. No ads.

Organize your knowledge with lists and highlights.

Tell your story. Find your audience.

Membership

Read member-only stories

Support writers you read most

Earn money for your writing

Listen to audio narrations

Read offline with the Medium app

--

--

Write a response