No, Design Does Not Make People Happy
Only a profession desperate for respect would make such a claim
UX experts teach that “design makes users happy”. It seems like a nice thing to say; if design could make people happy, design must certainly be very important.
But “design makes users happy” is a reductionist and dehumanizing view.
Design does not necessarily make people happy. Sometimes, it inspires people, helps them avoid frustration, or earns them money.
A design’s job might be to help a user accomplish a task they hate faster so they can get back to doing the other things that actually do make them happy, like leaving the office in time for family dinner. But, in that example, did the software design make that worker happy? No. Making it home for dinner did.
When designers say we deliver happiness and delight, at the best we’re claiming responsibility for something our designs themselves didn’t actually accomplish, and at worst we’re walking around with an inflated sense of self importance.
Sure, there is psychology at work in design; color does directly cause emotion and we know a lot about how design principles affect understanding, comprehension, and connect to people on an emotional level.
But the claim that design makes people happy — that we designers can uncover people’s deepest desires and then deliver them — goes too far.
Personally, I think it is incredibly pretentious, dehumanizing, and disingenuous to imply that a UX flow or visual style could change someone’s fundamental happiness.
Design might affect how someone feels in the moment or persuade them to take an action. Design might even create an emotional connection between people or between people and products.
Design does many things, but affecting someone’s fundamental happiness is a tall order. Do you really believe that a website design or elegant UX flow can make someone singing-in-the-rain happy?
Your family makes you happy. Your friends make you happy. Eating a cupcake makes you happy.
But design can only enrich our lives through the ideas and potential it delivers — never by itself. And that is why claiming design makes people happy is so silly.
People make other people happy, and design at its very best can only slightly help make that happen.
If you want to make someone happy, don’t design a logo. Go build a house for someone who doesn’t have a home. Go buy some food and give it to someone who is hungry. Hand out some cupcakes. People love cupcakes.
But don’t say design makes people happy because beyond those fundamental and obvious needs, you don’t have a clue what makes people happy. No matter how much research you do. No matter how much user testing, data mining, research, polling, and analytics you use, you don’t know people and what makes them truly happy.
Only a profession desperate for respect would make such a claim.
Often times we don’t even know what makes us happy ourselves. So how do you know what’s best for others?
Only the experiences I seek out and the people I love can make me happy.
Not a product. Not a service. Not a design.
And any claim otherwise is consumerist, self-important garbage masquerading as art.
Your design can do a lot — a whole lot — but don’t kid yourself. Happiness isn’t even a variable in the equation.
And personally, I don’t want the responsibility for others’ happiness. That’s too big of a job for anyone.
Find new ways to be creative by mastering design practice.
Master the art of being a designer. I teach quick, actionable online courses for designers of all experience levels.
Learn more about my courses here.
Or, grab my free design bootcamp.
