Calling the Baby Ugly

from John Wooden, Director of Usability Services

on January 29, 2010

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In the world of web application and site design, there’s been a trend over the last several years toward more multi-faceted “user experience designer” roles.  According to the job descriptions, these people are expected to do it all:  user research and task analysis, information architecture, interface design, graphic design, programming, usability testing and evaluation, project management, business strategy, presentations, and so on.
Though there’s reason to be skeptical that many of us can be truly outstanding in all of these skills and practice areas, let’s just say that Acme Design Agency does indeed have such people.  Even in that case, is it really a good idea to have the same person, or team, involved in creating a design and then evaluating the usability (or user experience) of that design?
Teams can have the best intentions, but it’s tough to look in a hard, neutral, objective way at your own work.  In the same way that good writers need good editors, user interface designers need an objective, unbiased evaluation of their products.  That’s why it’s important to go outside the design team – and in some cases outside the company – and have a usability analyst conduct usability testing with representative end users, or at least do a heuristic evaluation. 
Otherwise, there’s a temptation to be defensive, to look for validation and reasons to keep the work that’s been done, instead of trying to uncover flaws or weaknesses in presentation, navigation, interaction, or content.  Design teams are a bit like parents – they aren’t likely to call their baby ugly.* They’re just not objective.  (And in the case of parents and children, that’s usually a good thing!)
I’ve had to call a few UI design babies ugly over the years – well, in so many words – and though this has sometimes stung the designers or developers involved, it’s always helped them create better interfaces.  And that’s the goal we’re all aiming for.
*Thanks to our client Kathy Bohlke, UI/U Manager at 3M, for making this analogy.

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