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Comment by madrox | Hacker News Reader

I was the engineering leader for a grounds-up rebuild of a user dashboard this year. For the people who use it, it's part of how they make their living.

The process of working with design was the most user-hostile experience I've ever seen. There was quite a bit of "users don't know what they want" thrown around when people saw the beta and complained. It was used quite selectively, geared towards things the designer disagreed with. When the dashboard left beta, it was universally panned. All our KPIs tanked. What's more, it was considered a success because "redesigns are always poorly received." At all the jobs I've worked at, I've yet to discern any true rules that designers follow that aren't rationalizations.

I bring this up because nothing about this site...from its design to its content...resonates with me. If this is truly the best of 2019 then designers REALLY need to take a long, hard look at their culture.

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For another recent example, check the complaints about the latest redesign of the once-great Weather Underground app on Android:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wundergrou...

If memory serves, this app used to have a 4.5+ rating, now it's down to 3.2.

I did find the old 5.10.1 version of the app with a search for "download wunderground android", so I installed that and have a usable app again. Until they make some server change that breaks it.

Pocketcasts' redesign is another good example. It's at 3.3 and used to be almost unanimously positive.

UX Designer (at Google) here. I feel your pain. For any design to work, it needs to be grounded in a firm understanding of the user's behavior. I agree that design intuition is limited by one's own view of the world, so it's critical to gather the right data before going further than speculative designs. This can be accomplished through a variety of means, but observation and qualitative interviews prior to "design" are usually effective.

The design should be validated with different users from the same cohort prior to building it. Functional prototypes work well here. Ignoring user feedback here is a huge mistake on the part of the designer. Design is relatively cheap, and it's easy to iterate and check your assumptions with users before anything is set in stone. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this step would have increased trust with your engineering team. Often due to ignorance, some designers don't appreciate how much effort goes into these builds, and how early architectural decisions shape the product in ways that make it difficult to change later.

Acknowledged, that this is a "perfect world" scenario and business pressure might require augmenting the process. An experienced designer would understand how to do this and still get meaningful results.

Well, it’s stuff that Google did in 2019 that it wanted to highlight, so take "best of" with a grain of salt.

I’d be interested in a similar list from an independent perspective that doesn’t skew so high concept. Any improved login flows, transit ticketing experiences, accessibility wins, etc?

The interesting thing for me isn't that some people use motivated reasoning to push through changes for which they have a personal preference, but that the people who do this sometimes manage to gain power within organizations and insulation from consequences. You see the same pattern in engineering sometimes.

I have had a similar issue with a UX/design person. I think the main problem though is process. The design person should be challenged and accept criticism, and revisit their designs. Engineers can also fall into similar traps of following trends and over-engineering things (smart people like to make complex things without even realizing it). Without the structure in place to correct these oversteps, designers can have similar problems.

"Things should be as simple as possible, but not simpler." quoting a smart person here.

Do you work at Google, or is this just a blanket denouncement of all designers and their artsy-fartsy, latte-sipping ways?

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