One of the most common pieces of feedback I’ve heard while working with designers involves their frustration with feeling they’re “designing for the lowest common denominator.”
This is understandable. When it comes down to it, it seems as if they’re being asked to “dumb down” their well thought-out design for our potentially less-than-savvy users. It’s frustrating.
While it’s easy to see it like this on the surface, I’d like to challenge this notion head-on. Designers are right to feel this way. But there is more to it than simply dumbing-down a web design so anyone can use a website. And after working with many designers on many projects and understanding their professional objectives, I would like to share some pointers to help us both (designers and UX pros) create excellent web products at the end of the day.
Think Of It As Problem Solving, Not Dumbing-Down
If you’re designing a website that is intended for a mass market, and you’re concerned about the lowest common denominator stripping away the brilliance of your design, your task is much bigger than you may realize.
An interactive product, such as a website, must be designed to be used by your audience. Let that sink in.
It must be designed to be used across dozens of screen sizes on hundreds of devices by thousands of people with a million different levels of digital familiarity.
This is a huge problem that only experienced UX and design professionals can solve. More senior designers and creative directors will tell you about the “old days” when you designed an ad to fit into either a full page, half page, and so on. They will also tell you about paying off student loans in 5 years and $1 a gallon gas. The truth is, our world today is far more complicated, and digital design is a microcosm of this chaos.
Embrace the chaos and understand that your digital role transcends design. You’re more than a designer or UX professional, you’re a problem solver. Your grandparent’s era designed cars that are easy to drive. Return the favor and design websites that are easy to use.
Mobile First/Responsive/Multi-device
There are over a billion words written on this subject, so I won’t elaborate too much. But the basic principal is that considering drastically different screen sizes (from desktop to mobile) and your user’s contexts (where they’ll use your site) will have profound implications on your design.
Adopting this mentality will help you avoid a lot of what is perceived as “dumbing down” a design. You’ll get out ahead of it with a smarter layout.
For example, do your users spend a lot of time on your site reading or researching something? Or are your site’s goals based around some sort of registration or checkout process? How can you make these usage patterns easier to use across devices?
Platform Conventions – Do You Really Need To Reinvent The Wheel?
This is where UX and design crash head-on. Platform conventions are all of the things the general population has come to expect from websites. This includes nav bars, footers, highlighted links, and so on.
This is where UX pros see ease-of-use while designers strive for innovation. This is where I have personally had the most confrontations in my career. But I’ve reached “across the aisle” many times and learned two absolute truths:
First, misuse of platform conventions is one of the most common causes of a confusing or difficult to use website. If many users indicate they “missed that thing entirely,” it’s not because they’re too dumb to know how to use a website. It’s because you failed to consider their needs. Your site is only one of millions out there. You must understand that the top 10 websites in your category (e-commerce, blogging, B2B, etc) are setting the standard for familiar user interface patterns. So ask yourself, is that hamburger menu actually useful or just confusing to your audience?
Second, being too conservative with your site design will do little to help your company stand out amongst competitors. Just as misusing platform conventions can hurt your site, strictly adhering to them runs the risk of boredom. There are exceptions of course, Craigslist and Wikipedia for example. But the reason we have cool and useful things like product zoom rollovers or expanding nav bars is because a designer innovated. Does every project need these types of innovations? That’s your call.
The mark of a truly professional digital designer is the ability to balance an understanding of your audience and platform conventions while knowing when it’s appropriate to innovate.
Provide Accelerators For Savvy Users
An accelerator on a website is something that allows a power user to take a short cut. Auto-fill forms, saved account information and social sharing links are all examples of accelerators. Even an expandable “advanced search” can be an accelerator.
If you’re really stressing out about having to strip down a design, consider providing two versions: one for first-timers or novice users, and another for frequent and savvy users. This is very challenging, and good examples are hard to come by on the web.
For example, allow users to bookmark content within your site to allow for easy accessibility to their content when they return.
In Conclusion – The Great Balancing Act Between Ease & Simplicity
If you’ve found value in the suggestions I’ve posted here, and are still staring at your screen annoyed with that lowest common denominator, ask yourself, “is this going to be easy for them to use?”
This may require the age old creative practice of “killing your babies,” meaning letting go of an idea. Never be afraid to kill an idea that just doesn’t work. There is no shame in this. There is only freedom and professionalism.
Overall, a good guiding principal for UX and design, as stated by John Boykin of UX Magazine, is that “simplicity is good, ease is better.” Striking the great balance between the two should be your charge above all.