Can an ugly UI provide a good UX?
I think it’s fair to say that an ugly interface can provide a great user experience much like an ugly, budding developer can still write a great Medium article on such a topic. Jokes aside (I’m beautiful), I don’t think the answer is so black and white. While certainly possible for a ugly interface to be user friendly,
it’s never going to be as good as an interface that is user friendly and easy on the eyes:
I include Medium as an example because I’m writing this article on my first ever visit to the site. I, a user completely unaware of the site’s layout, was typing away within minutes by clicking the “Write a story” link found on the left side of the navbar. Clicking the link brought me to an account creation form asking for my email and after following a few instructions I was brought to the story creation page.
This UI design choice hits 4, maybe even all, of the 5 essential core principles of interactive design.
First, it’s appearance is consistent with the rest of the site. The font is consistent with other elements in the navbar and stories, it has a green hue that accents the whites and greys of the page, and it’s minimalist.
Second, the link is easily perceivable to users. It’s top left location on the page makes it one of the first places users will look and, as mentioned before, the green hue accents and stands out from the rest of the page.
Third, the link demonstrates learnability. After just one click, I’ve already learned that when I want to write a story on Medium I, as is so easily explained by the site, do the first thing that comes to mind and click the “Write a story” link. Granted, there’s not much Medium has to teach users with this particular element, but it’s simple, effective, and most importantly user friendly.
Fourth, the link is predictable. When I hover over it, the hue transitions to a darker shade of green. By changing colors on hover, this tells me that if I, the user, click this then something will then happen; maybe my information will be stolen, maybe the world will explode, or maybe, just maybe, the “Write a story” button will bring me to the story creation page.
Fifth, the link provides feedback. Others may disagree, but when you click the link it takes you to a new page. I, the user, did something (clicked) and received feedback (a new page).
So, now that we’ve established what’s incorporated in great UI, let’s see how reddit fails to hit all the principles while still providing a good experience.
Keeping in line with the Medium example, let’s look at the “Submit a new text post” button on the right side of the site.
It’s not terribly ugly, but it certainly isn’t pretty to look at.
It is, however, consistent with other elements on the page. It matches the styling of the “Submit a new link” button directly above it, as well as the blue header and plethora of blue links on the rest of the page.
It’s certainly perceivable. Not only does it stand out against the white background, I’m aware that it’s interactive because the button changes to a darker blue when hovered over.
One would think, reasonably so, and be correct to assume that when they click this button they’ll be taken to a page where they can type up a post for all of reddit to see. That makes it both predictable and provides the user with feedback via a page change.
Reddit is hideous. I say that as way too frequent user. But, it’s not hideous enough to the point where it’s unusable and impossible for users to figure out to navigate the site.
Not nearly as clean as Medium, but it’s enough to get the job done.
