This my pure opinion base off of 2+ years of product management and playing videos games my whole life.
What makes something a good design for UX?
It’s providing a thoughtless or seamless flow state for users to interact with your software or product without thought or frustration.
UX and good design is discussed mostly within software circles but can be applied to physical products as well.
For example, consider this O-cedar mop that I own.
For instance, this mop handle is too short, even when I twist it upwards to extend its reach; and I am 5’11, I am not that tall. I can imagine the frustration for people over 6 feet tall; it’s like a toothpick. This product and the design behind it works for some people, but not all; this is what I call a bad design.
Another example can be seen in video games and software, where there’s a trend of microtransactions and battle pass designs. Some designs portion the content into parts; for instance, PvE was promised to customers of Overwatch 2, in which only one part was delivered for $15, when people are willing to pay $60 to $70 for the entire experience. This leaves customer frustrated and disappointed.
This gets into another topic known as dark pattern or dark designs where UX designs don’t deliver value but trick people into paying for products with subpar value or no value to customers, which is fraudulent/immoral, but that’s a topic for another blog post/discussion.
I am here to teach you the difference between bad designs and good designs.
What makes a bad design?
If I have an expectation in my mind of what I want to happen, and I move to create that expectation on screen, but it doesn’t work or interrupts my flow state or subverts my expectations to create frustration in users, it’s a bad design.
The only exceptions to interruptions are ones that stop users from deleting the entire database or website, like “Are you sure you want to delete XYZ?”
Ok here’s example, of a good design.
I control +F on the chrome browser and I can go up and down without thought or interruption. Once I get to the top of keyword search it loops back to bottom, to restart the cycle of my search UX, and I easily can go backwards without interruption. it’s completely thoughtless and fluid.
Ok here’s example, of a bad design.
I am going break this one down step by step and point out the bad part.
We going go into notepad and do a control + F keyword search
I have Keywords A-F here
when you have a list of words and your cursor is in the middle
We hit control + F we type in our keyword.
Wwe click “find next” until!!!
We get this UI feedback saying cannot find “Keyword”.
However as user I know keyword is in the document so it interrupts my thought process, and I have to read the error message.
Why is this bad design? it interrupted my flow state it got in the way of the experience when other designs like control + F on the browser just loops. Which allow me to jump across the document easily.
I have to stop to click “Down” to go in the other direction. Why? I don’t know but all I know as a user, this frustrations me and I want nothing to do with it.
What makes it a bad design?
- it lacks simplicity
- its not elegant, why can code be elegant but not the design?
- Adds a extra step
- Interrupted flow
- Inconvenience if I am in a rush
- Frustrated the user
See, as a product manager, this is what you are trying to catch; these are your “bugs.”
A majority of firms or development teams ignore the nuances of UX or the microsteps of UX. When designs are implemented in code, there is a core focus on functionality & time versus usability.
Usability is what keeps people loyal & paying in the long-term, year over year, for your product. Yes, they paid for the functionality, but functionality can be replicated. It’s the UX and usability that help your functionality maintain its competitive advantage.
No one talks about Notepad, but everyone discusses Word documents; yet in terms of functionality, they are the same—you type text into a file.
However, the UX is the competitive gap between both products.
In Word docs, I can use control + F without interruption, while in Notepad, I get stopped.
This is what you are looking for as a product manager.
Some stakeholders despise iteration; some wonder why we are redesigning this & implementing in circles. Well, to make a competitive product, it’s the “nature of the beast” in building a valuable product that will generate millions to billions in revenue.
There is a journey from getting from idea to product.
In between that space, a ton of craftsmanship is required, and focusing on minor/extra details is what makes the difference between competitive products and failed products with dead companies behind them.
Here’s Stevens Jobs from his Lost Interview telling you same.