Many myths surround UI/UX design. Failing to expose and debunk them can negatively affect designers’ careers. Further, they can deny users the best experience they deserve from various design works, like products, websites, and apps. This post examines the top five misconceptions about user interface and experience design. Keep reading or find out here how to avoid them and get value from your designs.
Mastering Design Principles is Enough
Some designers assume that mastering UI/UX design principles is enough to create assets that give users the best experiences. They presume they can develop apps or websites that satisfy users without user research and usability testing. Designers or product owners think they already know what they need. Thus, they shouldn’t hear from the “horse’s mouth” before proceeding with design projects.
Most people who cherish this myth don’t see the need for research or testing because they:
- Lack sufficient time or cash due to tight project deadlines and budgets.
- Assume they already know their users and what they want.
- Don’t want users to dictate their products or their build.
Fortunately, user research and testing shouldn’t be expensive because we have many cost-effective alternatives.
Great UX/UI Design is About Perfect Looks and Super-Creativity
Another misconception that product, app, and website designers, as well as their customers, have is that perfect UI/UX design is about great looks. The truth is that excellent UI is more than pretty colors and shapes. Designers and asset owners must remember that humans are habitual creatures whose senses and minds like following patterns.
Designers should understand these patterns and how people’s brain perceives shapes, dimensions, and colors. This way, they can better map visuals with users’ mental models. When designing products, designers and owners must think about components and states determining issues like:
- How elements look when they’re off or on
- Where to place labels
- What systems do when components are in off-state or on-state
- How to provide proper feedback about systems
- How to arrange and categorize things
- Whether to use radio buttons or checkboxes
- How to place and group elements
A great UI/UX design should focus on the following items:
- Limiting UI design choices.
- Empathizing with users.
- Converting better for the businesses.
- Creating better outcomes all around.
All Would-be UX Designers Need Special Artistic Skills

Credit: from SquashApps
Some designers and their customers assume that being an excellent professional requires special artistic skills or training in an art school. While we can’t downplay artistry, having these skills alone doesn’t guarantee success, with many other components in the design success equation.
The sad fact is that you can be artistically gifted and still make a sloppy designer. This happens because UI/UX design is primarily about empathizing with users. Thus, the journey should start by placing oneself in the user’s shoes to get the best way to solve their problems.
Additionally, visual design is a small expression of UI/UX design. This field covers research, psychology, content strategy, marketing, interaction design, and computer science. Above these technical skills, successful design requires other soft skills. An excellent designer must be empathetic, a good listener, and a problem solver.
So, designers should look beyond visual artistry and develop other technical and soft skills. Product owners must also choose designers with the above skill set.
More Choices Satisfy Users More
Many novice designers tend to show off their artistic and technical skills. This assumption causes many problems because they overload users with excess choices. Deep in their minds, they assume that giving users many alternatives demonstrates how high-tech and “thorough” they are.
Sadly, they forget that overloading users with options can make them lose control of their actions. Yes, alternatives are good only if users remain satisfied and in charge. However, an excess of anything, including UI choices, is counterproductive.
Offering users too many options complicates understanding products, interfaces, and functionality. In fact, it only produces “decision paralysis,” where users can no longer make the decisions they want. This paralysis frustrates users, making them refuse to use a product or an app due to prolonged decision-making time.
Remember, Hick’s Lawsays that the increased number and complexity of choices users need increases their decision-making times. Therefore, designers must offer users a reasonable number of options to optimize desired outcomes.
Being an excellent UI/UX designer is about solving problems, having healthy constraints, and being intentional about your design choices. Here are tips to liberate you from this myth:
- Simplify user decisions by breaking down complex tasks into little, manageable steps;
- Combine related tasks into high-end categories;
- Highlight or emphasize the recommended alternatives to avoid overloading users with data and subjecting them to decision paralysis.
UX Design is a Passing Cloud
The last myth about UI/UX design is that it’s a passing cloud that emerged from the blues and is going nowhere. The truth is that UX design has been around since time immemorial. The only difference between then and today is how we experience it.
For instance, we can trace UX in ancient buildings our fathers constructed. They had the user behind their mind. However, they didn’t see it as a specialized discipline as we perceive it today. Externally, they couldn’t place a name to what they did, but their craft clearly demonstrates UX design essentials. Our generation has only made it an academic study field and enhanced it using technology.
Also, UX is here to stay because it covers different disciplines. That’s why the Nielson Norman Group defines UX as covering every dimension of the end-user’s interactions with a firm, its services, and its products. This definition indicates that UX is here to stay as long as people keep interacting with companies and their offers.We can only expect it to grow bigger and better as time moves because everyone in the business world contributes to customers’ happy experiences.
Closing Remarks
Many myths about UX/UI exist in designers’ and other stakeholders’ minds. These misconceptions negatively hinder user-friendly designs, producing negative experiences. Our post exposed and debunked them to enable you to better your contribution to a better user experience.
Photos – Medium