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Comment by prhn | Hacker News Reader

My intuition tells me that if you need to explain your UI before presenting it then you've probably failed at designing it.

Maybe I'm too old school in that "Design of Everyday Things" sort of thinking.

Nobody has to explain to me what to do with a cup because it's not shaped like a banana.

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What about a professional tool with a million features? Sure, sometimes designers create unnecessary complexity. But sometimes the problem is inherently complex.

A cup is something a baby can learn to use. A CAD package for designing rocket motors? Not so much.

A infographic website and CAD package for rocket motors are apples and oranges.

Right, so the generalization “if you have to explain your UI then you failed as a designer” doesn’t apply to all UIs.

Is this critique to do with the div containing the text "Scroll down to read and explore"? It doesn't seem like a good critique.

It does apply. Assuming a baseline(e. g. "literate English" or "colorblind primate"), a UX designer should be able to create an interface that allows for the engineered function to operate should the operating entity desire that action by a mixture of prior shared knowledge and novel information. If the designer is unable to fully convey the functionality, then to some degree, the designer did fail.

If someone is experienced at using CAD software and they can't navigate their way around a CAD software's UI then that software has a bad UI.

Anyone new to CAD software is going to have a difficult time navigating all of the tools it offers.

yeah it's slick on the surface but overwhelming to explore. i tried and quickly closed it out.

also, google trends about "why are things expensive" doesn't tell much about "why"

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