The Ugly Truth About UX Design No One is Telling You (And What I’d Tell My Younger Self)
When I first stumbled into the world of UX design, wide-eyed and eager, I believed the glossy facade everyone painted…
You know the one: a creative utopia where all that mattered was the user. Where you, as the designer, are the hero wielding wireframes and personas, saving the day with pixel-perfect designs that make users smile and companies prosper. But after a decade in the trenches, let me tell you, there’s more to this story — a lot more.
So, grab a coffee (or something stronger) and settle in. It’s time to talk about the ugly truths of UX design that no one is telling you, and what I’d tell my younger self when I was just getting started.
Crappy Feedback is Part of the Job
Let’s talk about feedback. When I started, I believed everyone knew how to give constructive feedback. I was so naive. You’d be shocked at how many people — including other designers — can’t articulate why they don’t like something.
“I doesn’t feel right.”
“I don’t like it, but I don’t know why.”
“It doesn’t look good.”
“I don’t like round corners.”
Those are just a few of the gems I’ve received over the years. You will have to educate people on how to give feedback. And even then, you’ll still get a lot of unhelpful comments. It’s frustrating, but it’s part of the job. Learning to sift through the noise to find the useful nuggets is a skill in itself.
Everybody and Their Mother Will Have an Opinion
Especially when you’re a junior designer, everyone will judge your designs. Other designers, PMs, developers, marketing and salespeople — everyone will have an opinion, and often, they’ll contradict each other. They won’t always care about you or the project. People just like to have opinions.
You’ll get feedback that doesn’t make sense, feedback that conflicts with other feedback, and feedback that’s downright wrong. You’ll need to learn to bear with it and grow a thick skin. Eventually, you’ll start dishing out your own opinions on others’ work, too. It’s just the way it is.
You’ll Never Work Alone
I once imagined that as a designer, it would be up to me to decide what to design to achieve the planned outcome. After all, I’m the designer, right? HaHaHa. NO.
You’re just a designer. Product teams are made up of people from many departments, and each of them has their own agenda. You’ll be juggling all of them. Your work will be scrutinized, poked, and prodded from every angle. It’s a balancing act, and the sooner you come to terms with your role as a team player rather than a rockstar designer, the easier it’ll be for you.
You’re Not as Important as You Think
Here’s another ego-bruiser: You’re not that important.
You know how important good design is for users. You see proof after proof that focusing on design is valuable and profitable. But be prepared: Most people in charge don’t care about any of that. They care about numbers and metrics, not user satisfaction. You will feel like you’re the only one who cares about users’ feelings, and often, you’ll be right.
Your job will involve persuading non-designers that what you do is important. If we’re still having this conversation, it means most of us haven’t succeeded yet.
Your Best Work Will End Up in the Trash
You’ve just come up with what you think is the best solution to a design problem. You’re proud, you’re excited, and you can’t wait to show it off. Your team loves it. You’re on cloud nine.
Then, you show it to the stakeholders. They don’t like it. And when you ask why, the answer is something vague like, “It doesn’t feel right.” You’ll cry a bit inside, but you’ll go back to the drawing board because that’s the life of a designer.
You can pour your heart and soul into something, and it can still end up in the trash. And it will happen more often than you’d like. Get used to it.
Selling Your Work is as Important as the Work Itself
If you think designing is hard, try selling your design to someone who doesn’t get it.
I’ve seen designers pour hundreds of hours into making a design perfect, only to fumble the presentation. It’s not enough to create a good design; you need to sell it. Demonstrate how it solves user problems and, more importantly, how it meets business needs. You need to know why you made specific design decisions and be ready to defend them. If you don’t, even your best work will land in the trash.
You’ll cry inside, but that’s okay. The hard way is the only way to learn this.
“It’s All About the Users” — Rubbish
If I had a pound for every time I heard someone say, “It’s all about the users,” I’d be sipping mojitos on a beach somewhere instead of writing this blog. The truth is, UX design isn’t just about users. It’s about marrying two completely different worlds: the user and the business. And guess what? Often, the business comes first.
Yes, I said it. Business.👏 Comes.👏 First.👏
I know, I know. This sounds blasphemous, but hear me out. Your salary needs to come from somewhere, right? And that somewhere is the business that needs to make a profit. So while user-centered design is critical, if your designs don’t align with business goals, they won’t see the light of day. It’ll feel like you’re the only one who cares about the users, and sometimes, that’s true. But if you want to keep your job, you’d better learn how to make both sides happy.
Accessibility is Often an Afterthought
Everyone talks about the importance of accessibility. It’s a hot topic in every design conference, workshop, and course. But when push comes to shove (or more accurately, when budget cuts happen), accessibility is often the first thing to go.
In a perfect world, accessibility would be a standard practice. But we don’t live in that world. You, as a designer, will need to fight for it. Even when there’s no budget for testing, you’ll need to ensure your designs meet at least the basic accessibility requirements. It’s on you to make sure your work is accessible. No one else will do it for you.
The Myth of the Perfect UX Process
When I was fresh out of design school, I believed in the gospel of the perfect UX process. Design Thinking, Design Sprints, Strategy Workshops — all those fancy best practices that are supposed to lead you to the promised land of flawless design. But let me tell you something: The perfect UX process does not exist.
Sure, there are best practices, and they’re useful, but they’re not gospel. There’s no one-size-fits-all process that will magically solve every design challenge. Each project is different. Each team is different. Each company is different. You need to judge for yourself whether a project needs a specific tool or not. Consider the timeframe, budget, value, and all the other messy realities of the job. It’s part of your job. No one will hand you a perfect blueprint for every design problem. You’ll have to figure it out as you go.
You Won’t Spend As Much Time Designing As You’d Like To
Here’s a harsh truth that no one told me when I started: As your career progresses, the amount of time you spend actually designing will shrink. A lot.
In the early days, when you don’t know much, you’ll spend most of your time designing because that’s how you learn. But as you grow, your role will expand. Meetings, workshops, testing, getting feedback, giving feedback… all of this will start eating into your design time. At some point, you’ll spend only about 30% to 40% of your time designing — if you’re lucky.
I know designers who refused to grow in their careers just so they could keep designing. That’s fine if that’s your thing (I was one of them), but if you want to advance, you’ll need to embrace the broader responsibilities of the role, even if it means less time in Figma or other programs.
The Silver Lining: It’s Not All Doom and Gloom
Alright, after all that, you might be wondering why anyone would want to be a UX designer. Here’s the thing: Despite all the frustrations, setbacks, and harsh realities, being a UX designer can be incredibly rewarding. You get to solve complex problems, work with diverse teams, and, yes, make a difference in people’s lives — users and business stakeholders alike.
Through all the challenges, you’ll grow not just as a designer but as a professional. You’ll learn to navigate tricky situations, communicate more effectively, and develop a thicker skin. And let’s not forget — there’s a lot of fun to be had along the way. Seeing your designs come to life, knowing that you’ve contributed to something meaningful, is a feeling that’s hard to beat.
So to my younger self, and to anyone else stepping into this wild world of UX design: Embrace the hardships. They’re part of the journey. And remember, despite all the ugly truths, UX design is a field full of opportunities for creativity, growth, and yes, even fun.
What would YOU tell your younger self?
