The title refers to my biggest take-away from Steve Krug’s ‘Don’t Make Me Think — Revisited’. The irony: he did make me think …
To clarify, this is not my review of his book. When reading, I just allow my thoughts to flow, see where they lead me and share my thoughts, questions, findings.
Maybe you read somewhere how this book could be a great reference guide for anyone in regards to usability in UX. You might even have heard how this book should be essential reading material in UX. Why? Steve Krug covers all basics on the subject of ‘usability’: from the principles of intuitive navigation to nowadays mobile design, … and so much more. He manages to keep the reading light, yet surprisingly not leaving out anything relevant. A book worthy of your time.
So as I’m reading, the wheels in my head slowly start turning. Why is it that design can be so complex without function? Money, marketing, trying to stand out, …? Is the primary goal of good design not to create a time-efficient, transparent and pleasant experience for the user? And if the answers to these questions seem common sense, then why is there still design out there not fulfilling those needs?
That’s when a single thought surfaced: ‘ego vs needs’. Not stating this is the only reason, but it wouldn’t be the first time ego gets in the way of positive results for everybody. Whether, we’re talking about the ego of the company, stakeholders, marketers, designers, … it will always be at cost of the user’s needs. How could any logically thinking professional be about the profits or analytics from next month? Or why would showing of design skills take precedence over functionality? Is it justified to call all of this ego? Well, call it what you want to, one thing is sure: this short-term and possibly shallow-minded thinking goes at cost of the experience from the very people that will help your business grow or …
As a lifelong product design student, I have more questions than answers because of my curious nature. I hope that won’t ever change. What this book taught me: I need to be and remain self-critical and open to feedback. Equally important: I need to be mindful of keeping a healthy balance between users, stakeholders, team, brand, … as the priority in my future design career.
