The cost of bad design
Pricing design is challenging because the design is subjective. Individual freelancers can charge from $5 to $10,000 for a simple logo design. Agencies charge even more.
"We don't have a budget for that."
We've all heard this at least once in our careers. You can learn a lot about the business side of design from the articles and videos. However, when it comes to practice, pricing design is always a frustrating part of the process.
We all know that good design is expensive. But nobody talks about the cost of bad design.
First and foremost, let's understand what is good design and what is bad design.
Good design vs. Bad design
"If you think good design is expensive, you should look at the cost of bad design." — Dr. Ralf Speth
Pieces of feedback such as asking to "tie the design together" or "make the eye go around" (which is a really vague piece of advice) are commonly used to describe the usage of fundamental principles and elements of design to avoid information overload, tread carefully while using negative space/white space, and to follow color theory.
These are some of the superficial aspects of good design. However, when it comes to good design, it is all about how good is the understanding of what exactly the user needs. User needs and content are at the core of the good design.
Bad design, on the other side, can look and feel pretty and function on the edge of the existing technological possibilities. But it doesn't solve the user's need or solves the wrong one.
A product with good design makes users feel confident by providing all the necessary information they need to perform their actions. Good design costs a lot of money. But at the same time, it attracts your users to use your products and remain loyal to your business.
A product with a bad design stands in front of the users, not letting them complete the task or confusing them with secondary features. Bad design costs you more as you lose the trust of your user. You earn a bad reputation in the industry which can be very expensive to change.
How does bad design increase costs?
Companies are always hurrying to get their products out in the market. They think they have a brilliant idea to solve the user's problem, so they hire a designer to implement their vision.
Designers, not having the time and budgets to do the proper research, start assuming what users would want and end up creating a beautiful product that looks and feels fantastic. It's completed and ready for release.
The product shines in the beginning: the company saved money on research and testing, and the product gets more and more popular in narrow circles. It looks like a great deal when the company starts seeing the initial demand. Until people start returning or canceling the product due to usability issues or because it's not aligned with the user's needs.
Now it doesn't look like a great deal – the company realizes that the product has become more expensive than they initially thought, as now the minor research costs become a loss or a significant expense in the development.
There are multiple reasons that a product might fail.
Some companies run out of cash to cover their expenses. Others have poor marketing. But most often, it's because of the lack of product/market fit. In other words, nobody wanted the thing you built the way you built it. Or you failed to find enough people who did want it.
These days it's common for companies to adopt the startup-ish culture and "fail quick." Most think it's cheaper to have something out there fast and learn in the process instead of spending too much time and having nothing. While this might help the product get a fast start, it doesn't help create a lasting impact on users in the long run.
Steps to avoid bad design
As designers, we have ways to prevent this sort of unnecessary cost in design. There is no single set of golden rules, but there are guidelines we can use to refer back to at every step of the product development process. These guidelines can help us ensure that our designs will be cost-effective in the long term.
Listen to your audience
A good designer leaves their ego at the door, listens to what people are asking for, and tries to bring out a product that can serve the users in the best possible way.
This is hard. We as designers often don't want to listen to other people because it ruins the idea we might have originally had.
Nothing beats hard and fast facts, especially from a wide variety of sources.
However, a designer needs to use good judgment to determine what they need to listen to the users and implement.
Invest in research
It is crucial for the designer to know and understand the value of the research process and to have a firm understanding of why.
Often event the stakeholders will put up walls against this. From a business perspective, this might not be a smart thing to do. So as a designer, it is your job to develop a strong understanding of why this is absolutely necessary to be able to fight for the user and for the success of the company in the long term.
Understand that trends are not user needs
Trends spread like wildfire in our society and world.
When a trend becomes widespread, it quickly spreads among the competition before becoming EVERYWHERE.
Trends aren't all bad. Indeed, specific trends have resulted in some of the best products and their widespread availability.
However, it is critical to keep your primary strategy and reason for developing this product in mind.
Adopting trends to support this primary strategy may be beneficial, but basing the strategy on a trend may not be.
Bring in the content
Whatever the visuals look like, the content is everything.
What is the product made of?
What is the first thing that comes to mind when a user describes this product to another person?
The core content is what gives the user value. While providing a good user experience is essential, everything else is a great option to consider as a supporting element of the content.
As a result, it is necessary to pay close attention to ensure that this content adds significant value to the specific tasks the product helps the user complete.
Don't forget to engage the senses
Finally, although not the highest priority, the look and feel are essential.
How comfortable does the user feel by using your product?
What can you do to improve their experience with your product?
How can you help the user reduce the stress of completing the task through visuals and other sensory and auditory experiences?
This can be addressed with excellent visual and sensory design elements.
Conclusion
We live in a time when users have a wide variety of products to choose from, and the next new thing was considered old yesterday.
However, in the midst of this speed and expectation, we must recognize the value of good design vs. bad design and the actual cost that it can have.
This is not only a design principle but also a universal principle that we must learn to follow as responsible people living on this planet.
Nothing that comes quickly lasts long.