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UI redesigns are mostly a waste of time

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Re: UI redesigns are mostly a waste of time

#111

Post by dsego »

inertiatic wrote: post #19
calinet6 wrote: post #13

> To preface the article, I primarily work on, and prefer, back-end code. I've been involved in both web and software development for over 4 years now Cool, cool. To preface this comment, I'm a user experience designer, and I've been doing web software development and design for over 20 years. In reality, your conjecture turns out to be largely untrue. Visual design quality does have an impact. Main principle you wan…

>People aren't idiots. They don't do this work for no reason. Citation absolutely needed. In my experience people are frequently idiots, and work gets done for no reason after someone with authority is convinced that it's a good idea by someone aching to do that sort of work. If it happens in so many other cases, it does happen in UI/UX as well.

Job security, designers can only design, so that's what they do. And if there is nothing new to design, they will keep redesigning. Gotta keep up with the trends.

Re: UI redesigns are mostly a waste of time

#112

Post by duckmysick »

atoav wrote: post #108
d0100 wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am guessing that only Office power users hated the MS ribbon. I loved it, it's do much easier to find stuff if you already don't know where it is. Great design for the casual Wordster.

yeah but it is software: ehy not serve both?

Because it's software. Additional options mean additional code, which leads to increased complexity and burden on maintenance. And it's not a linear increase.

It doesn't mean you can't add new features (or code), but doing so leads to trade-offs.

Re: UI redesigns are mostly a waste of time

#113

Post by bloomer »

aclissold wrote: post #103
deepstream wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny thing about AUE is that it hides usability issues. People get dazzled by the look, and feel it's better than it is. This means the OP is correct. New paint doesn't make it more useful. To really help users, optimize for usable design, not just aesthetics.

Why not both?

Limited time and resources

Re: UI redesigns are mostly a waste of time

#115

Post by eswat »

inertiatic wrote: post #19
calinet6 wrote: post #13

> To preface the article, I primarily work on, and prefer, back-end code. I've been involved in both web and software development for over 4 years now Cool, cool. To preface this comment, I'm a user experience designer, and I've been doing web software development and design for over 20 years. In reality, your conjecture turns out to be largely untrue. Visual design quality does have an impact. Main principle you wan…

>People aren't idiots. They don't do this work for no reason. Citation absolutely needed. In my experience people are frequently idiots, and work gets done for no reason after someone with authority is convinced that it's a good idea by someone aching to do that sort of work. If it happens in so many other cases, it does happen in UI/UX as well.

Maybe I’m reading too much into this. But I think you’re conflating your contempt for negative workplace politics and the aftermath of decisions you’ve experienced, with the intentions of these companies that do these redesigns.

Some of these redesigns that don’t work out well could have been worked on by brilliant people that were very cautious about what kind of work they take on. But you don’t always hit it out of the park.

Re: UI redesigns are mostly a waste of time

#116

Post by trumped »

jslabovitz wrote: post #20
taeric wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean... I get what you are saying, but you are going to have to offer an alternative. Preferrably one that isn't complete garbage. What do you use over Google Maps and Facebook? For Maps, I really don't know of any alternative. And I now make some mapbox-gl applications for the office. There just doesn't seem to be any real alternative. For Facebook? I can actually almost completely unplug. That said, it is the eas…

I have an iPhone, so Apple Maps is right there as an alternative (and better, since it's more integrated into things like the Contacts app and auto-recognized addresses). I find its design to be much calmer and smoother, which makes me happier. And it doesn't keep asking me to login to the Googleverse... There are many reasons I don't use Facebook, most of which are enumerated in countless HN posts, but a big reason…

> And it doesn't keep asking me to login to the Googleverse...

is that because you are always logged in to Apple's Garden?

Re: UI redesigns are mostly a waste of time

#117

Post by baccheion »

Maybe they're a waste of time with apps, as the screen/window is small (ie, what's there to change?). On the other hand, people become bored by stale/outdated interfaces and move on. Also, times/trends change and there's usually a need to keep up. Enterprise software and other gluts of sh*t may not need the same updates and are usually terrible from the beginning.

If a redesign is done without attention to what's necessary, then it could also be a waste of time. It's especially bad if the newer design is worse and/or more alienating, as that tends to results in a loss of users.

Re: UI redesigns are mostly a waste of time

#118

Post by eswat »

pfranz wrote: post #34
sonnyblarney wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"users perceive your product to be more usable if it's aesthetically pleasing." Of course, in the first 10 seconds or few minutes, but I suspect strongly this effect fades over time. Most UI redesigns are bad because they focus on the wrong things and throw out a lot of good things, or change for the sake of change.

At a previous job I would see the process of films getting made. After a year of keeping the same joke they'd swap it out with a less funny joke. It's not because the new joke is better, the old joke got tired to them and the new joke was fresh. I see the same thing happen all over the place--branding and UI are very common victims.

That’s a cool example. In terms of UI redesigns though, changing things up is definitely more costly in this realm.

I probably don’t mind a new skit because I’m just looking to be entertained. But I’m mostly looking to get shit done with something that had an actual UI to it, so freshness can be more hit-or-miss.

Re: UI redesigns are mostly a waste of time

#119

Post by pembrook »

dsego wrote: post #111
inertiatic wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>People aren't idiots. They don't do this work for no reason. Citation absolutely needed. In my experience people are frequently idiots, and work gets done for no reason after someone with authority is convinced that it's a good idea by someone aching to do that sort of work. If it happens in so many other cases, it does happen in UI/UX as well.

Job security, designers can only design, so that's what they do. And if there is nothing new to design, they will keep redesigning. Gotta keep up with the trends.

Coders can only code, so that's what they do. Even if there's no new features needed or the old software is working fine as is, they will keep refactoring. Gotta keep up with the trends.

Re: UI redesigns are mostly a waste of time

#120

Post by Hendrikto »

pembrook wrote: post #119
dsego wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Job security, designers can only design, so that's what they do. And if there is nothing new to design, they will keep redesigning. Gotta keep up with the trends.

Coders can only code, so that's what they do. Even if there's no new features needed or the old software is working fine as is, they will keep refactoring. Gotta keep up with the trends.

That does actually happen. Just look at the JS ecosystem.
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