It’s no surprise that design has had to fight for its place in the tech industry. In the pragmatic world of entrepreneurship and software development, a discipline where first impressions hinge on aesthetic delight can be easily deprioritized.
But design isn’t just about beauty. Let’s not forget that this discipline was created to be practical. Its function is solving problems with creativity and considering human behavior, but it also needs systematic and technical methods. Some of the key practical principles of product design are order, consistency, and efficiency, which are essential to the well-known and needed usability and accessibility. Delight in product design isn’t just a visual cue, but an experience of a well-functioning product.
So why is design often deprioritized? The cocktail is made with several ingredients: the pressure to deliver core functionality, stakeholders pushing for quick launches, resource constraints, and teams lacking design expertise. As a consequence, when starting a product, entrepreneurs often prioritize functionality, assuming that if it works well, success will follow, regardless of design. But neglecting design can lead to costly problems, including:
1. User frustration and abandonment
Donald Norman said it best: “Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good designs fit our needs so well that the design is invisible, serving us without drawing attention to itself. Bad design, on the other hand, screams out its inadequacies, making itself very noticeable.”
The lack of professional design often results in a product that is difficult to use, leading to user frustration and reduced retention. Nowadays, there are multiple platforms on the internet where frustrated users can express a negative experience, which can easily damage the application’s reputation.
An experienced product design team, not only has a deep knowledge of usability and accessibility standards and how to apply them to different products, but they also get to thoroughly know your users and the ways they would interact with your product so they can create a tailored intuitive experience that will provide excellent user experience and adoption.
2. Poor product-market fit
Without thorough design research and benchmarking, the product may not meet the needs and solve the pain points of your target audience. Misaligned product features can lead to poor market fit, resulting in low adoption rates and revenue loss.
Defining the product market fit is a key skill in product design. By analyzing closely your competitors and target users, they can find the gaps and opportunities that can create the unique value proposition of your product, making sure your product adds value to your user, and creating a stronger fit within the market.
3. Increased development costs
Skipping the design phase will likely result in developers spending more time outside their area of expertise, learning about design best practices, ideating and crafting usability solutions for an already implemented feature, leading to delivery delays and cost overruns.
Good design teams collaborate closely with developers and give them a clear direction through detailed and documented wireframes, mockups, and prototypes. This minimizes the need for rework or last-minute design solutions and allows developers to focus on implementation rather than ideation or usability fixes.
4. Lack of trust and brand recognition
When a product is created without a design system and guidelines, it is likely to suffer from inconsistencies in brand image and overall experience, which can confuse users and weaken brand identity. A consistent experience is key to building trust and loyalty.
Seasoned product designers know how to create a functional design system or UI kit, depending on your product needs and budget, that will allow a more efficient design process, as well as consistency in branding and user experience.
5. High support costs
A poorly designed product often consists of a user interface that is hard to navigate, requires extensive troubleshooting, and provides a user experience that does not solve their pain points; resulting in products that often require more resources for customer support.
A product design team ensures that they have a user-centered design process that emphasizes easy navigation, which reduces the chance of users needing help to understand how the product works. Also, when needed, they include help tools, such as tooltips and tutorials, that allow users to troubleshoot issues within the app and reduce the workload on customer support.
A thoughtful design ensures a product that truly meets your user needs; and champions usability, efficiency, and trust, not just because they are key to excellent user experience but because they are also key to the success of your product. Don’t fall into the trap of skipping design for faster launches and reduced cost —it’ll cost you more in the long run.
Discover how our product design team addresses these critical points early, preventing them from evolving into complex problems in our design sprint.
