30 April A comprehensive (and honest) list of UX clichés April 30, 2020 General, Graphic Design, Trends “You are not your user” A reminder that you are not designing the product for people like yourself. Often used as a way to encourage more user research in a project. “If Henry Ford had asked people what they wanted, they would have told him faster horses” Used as a counter-argument to the previous statement, when you start to realize you won’t have time or money to do enough user research. “We are testing the design, not your skills” Disclaimer given to users at the start of a user testing session to make them feel better about being a little stupid. “Designers should have a seat at the table” When you are not able to prove your strategic value to the company based on your everyday actions and behaviors, and you have to beg to be invited to important meetings. “Choices should be limited to 7 plus or minus 2” A nicer way of saying that choices should range from 5 to 9, without sounding too broad. When in reality every good designer knows choices should range from 1 to 2. “People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill bit; they want a quarter-inch hole” Wait, do they really want a hole? Or do they want wireless Bluetooth instead, so no holes are needed whatsoever? “UX should be a mindset, not a step in the process” When you realize the deadline is coming close and you haven’t been able to finish your deliverables. Used to try to retroactively convince the PM to extend the project timeline. “Content is king” A pretty strong argument to convince everyone to push the deadline because you haven’t received the content that will go on the page you are designing. “Never underestimate the stupidity of the user” An efficient way of outsourcing your own responsibility of giving users enough context so they know what to do (a.k.a. being a good designer). “I’m wondering if this breaks accessibility standards” Used as last resort when you are running out of arguments to convince other designers their design is not working. “A user interface is like a joke; if you have to explain it, it’s not that good” An easy way of killing that onboarding wizard/walkthrough idea your stakeholders are asking for. Watch out for the backfire: others might agree with your argument and blame on you the fact that the product is not that working that well. “People don’t scroll” The most offensive statement you can throw at a designer. “People are used to scrolling; think about the way you use Instagram” A polite counter-argument to the previous statement. The Instagram example can be replaced by any other feed-based product your interlocutor might be addicted to. “The fold doesn’t exist” If you can’t convince them, confuse them. “UI vs. UX” Pzajsodiajhsknfksdjbfsdbfkqwehjoqiwejroe. Usually followed by even more cliché analogies of ketchup bottles or unpaved walkways. “All pages should be accessible in 3 clicks” Just. Don’t. “Should designers code?” A commonly used wild card when the audience is running out of questions in a Q&A session at a design event. “If you think good design is expensive, you should look at the cost of bad design” A passive-aggressive way of explaining to clients you will not reduce your price. Usually ineffective. “You can’t design an experience; experiences are too subjective to be designed” An argument used by coworkers who are running out of things to say but somehow still want to sound smart. “Let the users decide” None of us is going to win this endless argument, so we should take this to c̶o̶u̶r̶t̶ user testing. But I’m still going to prove you wrong at the end. “No one enters a website through the homepage anymore” Popular at the peak of the SEO era (2005–2008), the argument was used to cut short endless meetings where a large group of stakeholders is trying to design your homepage by committee. “The only other industry who names their customers ‘users’ are drug dealers” Can’t even explain why this one exists. Used a lot when the term UX came about in the early 2000s, is becoming pretty popular again in the “designing for addiction” era. “When escalators break, they actually become stairs” Originally used to explain the concept of graceful degradation, the quote started being adopted by developers to convince the product owner that certain bugs do not need to be fixed. “Mobile users are distracted” Just a generalization made by someone who still thinks the primary use case for mobile devices is on-the-go, while doing groceries and simultaneously trying to tame a wild giraffe. “You don’t know what you don’t know” Honestly, no one knows. “Leave your ego by the door” An inspirational quote used before you walk into a user testing session or a collaborative work session with your coworkers. Looks particularly great if written in Helvetica, printed and framed, and hung by the entrance of truly collaborative office spaces. “Double diamond” Hey, we need a slide in this deck that represents our design process — can you come up with something that is relatively simple to understand, that will make us look less chaotic than we actually are? “Users don’t read” An overly used argument to convince clients and stakeholders to cut copy length in half. If you made this far to this article, you’re living proof that this statement is untrue. Related Posts Web Accessibility Checklist Wallpaper Today we have an awesome freebie for you - a useful Web Accessibility Checklist desktop wallpaper with a grungy feel that features some super simple yet often forgotten reminders for the accessibility of your website. The Five Inconvenient Truths of Web Design Being a web designer isn't easy. Depending on your niche, it requires a combination of finely-tuned technical and visual skills. And it takes a major commitment in order to keep those skills relevant in an ever-changing industry. What's more, the proverbial rug can be pulled out from under us at any moment. Tried-and-true methods can turn to dust and great tools can disappear without a trace. Even industry-related legislation can throw everything into a tizzy. Taken together, it can all be very difficult to deal with - let alone thrive in such an environment. But it's not impossible. Part of the path to maintaining both success and sanity comes from embracing the things we learn from experience: the inconvenient truths. Over my 11+ years as a designer, I'd like to think that I've experienced quite a wild ride. In that spirit, I've put together a list of “truths” that, once understood, can help to make for a smoother journey. Losing Motivation as a Designer and What You Can Do Sometimes, you just don’t want to do your work. It can be such a hassle to get up, start up the computer, fire up the software, and do what needs to be done. You feel tired and bored, having lost sight of why you chose a career in design in the first place, and you find yourself wondering whether you should just give it all up and become a dental hygienist. It can be really demoralizing to lose your motivation part of the way through a project, but what do you do if you absolutely have to get something done regardless of how you feel about it? I’m going to tell you about a technique you can use when you’re feeling burnt out and you simply can’t bear to think about taking one more step to complete that big, hairy project staring you in the face. Web Accessibility 101: Designing for All People, Not Most Web design is about accessibility. Most web designers aim to create products for the largest swath of people within their audience, casting their designs out like gaping nets to yield them the greatest influx of users. And while there’s logic to that design principle, it overshadows a somewhat simpler and more inclusive principle: Design for all people, not most. 2019 UI and UX Design Trends It feels like we’re getting somewhere with all the tools, advancements in technology, and growth of our understanding of how user-facing products really have to work. Sooner than later, we’ll develop the mindset for universal design that encompasses everything we produce, and not just sell. The way we do things for ourselves needs better design choices. The way we even sound as nations can be designed in a better way. Still, a far cry from where we could be in the future, let’s get into the interface and experience design trends of 2019. Cloud Atlas Hackers Add Polymorphic Malware to Their Toolkit The hacking group also known as Inception [1, 2] was initially identified in 2014 by Kaspersky's Global Research and Analysis Team researchers, and it has a history of targeting government agencies and entities from a wide range of industries via spear-phishing campaigns.