I’ve been a designer for almost two decades now and there’s always something new to learn.
Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about design flaws and how we can learn from them to create better more user-friendly experiences.
I mean we all make mistakes right? But sometimes those mistakes can be pretty glaring and sometimes they can even have serious consequences.
Lessons From the “Norman Door”
One of the most classic examples of a design flaw is the “Norman door.” those pesky doors where you try to pull when you should push or push when you should pull.
It’s a design that just goes against our natural intuition.
I always end up looking like a complete goofball when I encounter one of these and honestly it’s embarrassing!
What’s really frustrating is that the “Norman door” is a design flaw that’s been around forever.
It’s almost like a design meme.
You’d think that after all these years we’d have figured out how to make doors that are more intuitive to use.
But nope they’re still out there causing confusion and frustration.
The biggest lesson we can take away from the “Norman door” is the importance of user testing.
It’s not enough to just create a design that looks good.
We have to make sure that it’s actually easy to use that it makes sense to our users.
We can’t assume that our users will understand our design just because we do.
We need to put ourselves in their shoes and see things from their perspective.
Preventing Human Error Through Design
Another important lesson we can learn from design flaws is the importance of preventing human error.
We all make mistakes but sometimes those mistakes can have serious consequences.
Remember those Hawaii missile alerts back in 2018? It turns out they were triggered by someone accidentally pushing the wrong button.
Talk about a major design flaw!
Think about the potential impact of a single wrong click on a button.
For example imagine someone accidentally deleting an entire database! That could be a huge disaster for any business.
That’s why it’s so important to design user interfaces that are intuitive and error-proof.
We need to make sure that the most important actions are clearly labeled and that there are safeguards in place to prevent accidental deletions or other critical errors.
We can use things like confirmation pop-ups clear labeling of buttons and robust error-handling mechanisms to minimize the risk of human error.
The Power of Hierarchy in Design
Remember the 2017 Oscars fiasco when the wrong movie was announced for Best Picture? It was a classic example of how poor design can lead to serious mistakes.
While there were multiple contributing factors to that blunder one of the key issues was the typography on the award card.
The hierarchy of information was confusing making it difficult for people to quickly understand who the winner was.
This underscores the importance of visual hierarchy in design.
We need to make sure that the most important information is displayed prominently and clearly using a combination of font size weight color and white space to guide the user’s eye.
In short we need to make sure that the information we want to communicate is clear concise and easy to understand.
Avoiding Trendy Design Pitfalls
there’s always a new design trend popping up.
It’s exciting to try out these new trends but sometimes they can backfire.
For example remember those “ghost buttons” that were all the rage a few years ago? They looked cool but they could be pretty misleading.
The subtle design made it hard for users to see what was actually clickable.
The takeaway here is that we need to be careful about chasing trends.
Just because something is trendy doesn’t mean it’s a good design.
We need to make sure that any design trend we adopt actually makes sense for our users and helps us achieve our goals.
We need to ask ourselves “Does this trend improve the user experience? Or is it just a gimmick?”
Reflecting on Design Flaws
It’s important to be able to look critically at our own designs and identify potential problems.
We need to ask ourselves:
- Is my design intuitive? Can users figure out how to use it without any instructions?
- Is it simple and easy to understand? Or is it cluttered and confusing?
- Have I considered the potential for human error? What can I do to prevent mistakes?
- Does the design reflect a clear hierarchy of information? Is it obvious what’s most important?
The best way to identify design flaws is to get feedback from others.
Ask your friends family and colleagues to take a look at your design and tell you what they think.
Ask them how they would navigate your website or use your app.
Their feedback can be invaluable in helping you identify and fix potential problems.
The Value of Learning From Our Mistakes
I’ve learned a lot from my own design mistakes over the years and I’ve learned even more by observing the design mistakes of others.
We all make mistakes but it’s important to learn from them and use that knowledge to create better designs in the future.
What about you? Have you learned any valuable lessons from design flaws? Share your experiences in the comments!