Many companies face innovative conflicts and try to evolve over the years. Due to inconsistent designs, they have a hard time onboarding new users. On the other hand, they have existing users accustomed to their present design. As a result, they are in a dilemma as to whether to impose changes.
In such situations, companies incur a design debt. Moreover, it results in a snowballing effect when left unattended for many years.
A design debt accumulates naturally over time, and it is necessary to be aware of its consequences. It is the sum of all imperfect UX designs that appear over time due to market innovation and lack of change. From a user’s perspective, it implies they expected more from your UX design.
Types of Design Debt đź’¸
To understand further about design debt, let us explore the different types of design debts that exist in the digital world:
- UX Design Debt
First and foremost, the design debt incurred in user experience. It could prove to be fatal when it is left unattended. It can be UX designs left overlooked for many years such as, not incorporating adequate fields in your forms or having redundant elements blocking a user’s view.
UX design debt can be intentional: For example, when you have no budget or time. Therefore, you have no choice but to go with the existing design to satisfy your short-term goals.
Also, debt can be unintentional: When you design elements according to your preference instead of understanding your audience. Subsequently, you risk incurring design debt over time when you overlook the target audience’s preference.
- Operational design debt
It occurs when there is a lack of structure in the design process. As a result, it affects the development team’s work. It happens due to technical errors such as utilizing outdated design files, a time-consuming design hand-off process, poor organizational workflow, etc.
- Visual design debt
Specifically, this is about your UI elements. When there is a disjointed and unappealing look, it disrupts the visual appearance of your interface. Therefore, pay close attention to every minute detail like your shapes, colors, and even alignments. One small detail can result in huge consequences for your user interface.
How does it occur?
Naturally, design debt materializes when we are busy with other projects and pay less attention to minute details in the process. To get a transparent view, let us know why it is happening:
- Insufficient research
The big red flag here is when we start a design project using our assumptions rather than conducting research. Undoubtedly, a lack of research and understanding of our target audience can lead to unnecessary designs and poor functionality.
- Tight budgets and deadlines
When there is a limited budget, it restricts you from implementing the appropriate designs. Likewise, when there is a short deadline, it pressurizes you to rush your work without implementing the right features.
- Technical debt
It is common terminology when developers reject the designer’s solution, deeming it too complex to implement. In addition, the lack of infrastructure and technology also restricts them from working on the design.
- Lack of user testing
Naturally, some companies avoid usability testing before the design goes live. It could be due to quick deadlines or a lack of testers. However, it is essential to do sufficient user testing to understand the pros and cons of the interface before it goes live.
- Ignoring analytics
Frequently, some companies ignore keeping track of the product once it has gone live. Analytics and statistical data show the proof in the pudding of whether your product is progressing or not. In addition, it assists you in identifying key areas where your design lacks quality.
- Lack of creativity
When there is a lack of innovative leadership in your organization, it results in not adapting against the dynamic market trends. Moreover, it encourages users to move on to other competitors when they see no creativity in your designs.
How to resolve design debt?
Fortunately, there are ways to resolve design debt and take appropriate measures to avoid them. Adopt these five strategies, and it will ensure you avoid any design debt in the future:
- Conduct sufficient research and usability testing before implementation. It is always good to keep in mind that the amount of effort we put into preparation decides the success of our product. Hence, study your target market carefully and keep up with trends. Furthermore, ensure you do sufficient user testing before it goes live. As a result, it gives you valuable feedback on how to improve your product before you deploy it in the market.
- Assess your UX designs monthly. Make it a habit to conduct monthly reviews of your designs. Go through data analytics and process all the customer feedback. Undoubtedly, these discussions will determine what your design lacks and how you can improve it.
- Design from a user’s perspective. Always see yourself as a user when designing the ideal user experience. However, many designers evade thinking from a user’s perspective and design according to their own preferences. Hence, ask yourself as a user if you enjoyed experiencing this product? And how can you make it even more enjoyable?
- Have in-house design teams. It is always ideal to have your design team to count on. They work slowly compared to agencies; hence they get more time to implement the appropriate designs. In addition, in-house teams understand your business better and integrate solutions effectively.
- Hire external design teams. Nevertheless, choosing the right agency to work with can bring you incremental results. Agencies have their perks as they push for the best user designs and have better infrastructure to support their delivery. Therefore, analyze each agency’s portfolio and hire the most convenient fit to assist you with long-term projects.
Be financially digitally free…
There is nothing to be embarrassed about accumulating design debt over the years. It happens naturally for companies of any stature since they get occupied with other tasks.
Therefore, it is imperative to implement strategies and clear these debts over time to ensure incremental growth.