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14 User Interface Design Experts Share The #1

Mistake Made When Designing
User/Hardware Interfaces
Last Updated: May 15, 2017 | by Shelly Stazzone | Usability | 0 comments

When the average person thinks of their favorite apps, websites, and gadgets, it is usually based on
what that piece of hardware or technology provides for them: education, entertainment,
organization, time management, etc. What many consumers don’t realize is that a major factor of
why a particular app, website, or gadget is enjoyable is due to the user interface design.
UI designers invest countless hours into the conception and design of a piece of hardware all so
that the average consumer actually doesn’t notice anything but joy the product gives them.

At Pannam, we make custom membrane switches so we’re in the business of developing intuitive
functionality for high-end, specialty electronic systems, so user interface design is a topic that is
highly relevant to us and our clients, and an area we’re always seeking to learn more about. So, we
set out to nd expert advice about user interface design, and speci cally to uncover the biggest
mistakes designers make when it comes to user interfaces. To accomplish this we reached out to
14 interface designers and engineers to answer this question:

“What’s the biggest mistake made when designing user/hardware interfaces?”

We’ve collected and compiled their expert advice into this comprehensive guide to designing
intuitive and e ective user interfaces. See what our experts said below.

Meet Our Panel of User Interface Design Experts:

2
Brett Derricott Jørgen Hookham
Mark McMillion Grayson De Ritis
Steven Benario Michael Riley
 Hayley Brooks David Reischer
Jason Swett Heather Inocencio
Pablo Diaz Ricardo Fabila
Berrin Sun Pradeep Kumar

Did you participate on our panel?

Get a custom badge HERE.

The Biggest User Interface Design Mistakes

Brett Derricott
Brett Derricott is the founder and CEO of Agency Fusion, seven-
time winner of Best of State. His company designs and builds
systems for Fortune 500 companies and startups alike. Brett has
been published in several magazines, including Computer Arts,
and has spoken at dozens of conferences around the nation. In
2008 Brett was named to Utah Business Magazine’s Forty Under
40.

Most skilled user interface designers keep the end user in mind at all times during the
design process. Regardless of design skill, however, there is one frequent and disastrous
mistake made by novice and skilled user interface designers alike, and that is…

Assuming that the designer is the end user.

The designer may well feel he or she understands the end user, and the designer may also be a
potential consumer of the user interface, but the designer should never assume that he or she can
stand in for the end user.

The objective of a user interface designer is to create an interaction point with software or
hardware that a rst-time user nds intuitive and easy-to-understand. The better the interface
design, the less training and guidance required by the end user.

Two succinct rules serve to prevent the wise user interface designer from making this mistake:

Rule One: Know thy user.

Rule Two: You are not thy user.

Mark McMillion
Mark McMillion is a retired Army o cer and former Asst Professor of Engineering Psychology for
the United States Military Academy at West Point. A native West Virginian, he is the founder of
McMillion Leadership Associates, a rm dedicated to helping leaders get better in part by making
better presentations.
 The #1 biggest mistake made when designing user/hardware
interfaces is…

Not focusing on what the user really wants.

Designers typically start with a set of capabilities they want to

design. Then they determine what the latest, greatest technology
is they can use to build those capabilities. What they should do is
to determine the users’ needs and how best to satisfy them.

So the mistake is not learning what the user wants, but constructing what the designer thinks the
user wants and using the most technological solution possible.

Steven Benario
Steven Benario works as the Product Manager for the NYC-based
data analytics startup Ufora. At Ufora, he is helping to build the
next generation analytics platform for data scientists and quant
analysts. Previously he was Head of Product for Games.com and
spent 4 years as a User Experience PM at Microsoft.

The biggest mistake when designing either software or

hardware is…

Failing to put yourself in the shoes of the user.

At the end of the day your goal as a designer is to produce something that *solves a problem* for
users, or is a delight to use. Too often, people designing products will forget exactly who their user
is, or exactly what mindset the user will be in when using the product, and will miss the mark.

Designers need to design for their users [their audience], and not for themselves.

Hayley Brooks
Hayley Brooks is co-founder and head of product development at
Learn2Earn, a small edtech startup in San Diego, CA that seeks to
make reading fun while increasing funds raised by parent groups
through online read-a-thon challenges and fundraisers for
elementary schools.

As a SaaS startup in the edtech space, our biggest mistake

regarding interface design has been…

De ning our user groups too broadly, and then not designing the interface for speci c needs.

This is particularly apparent with the children of di erent ages who use our website, as what is
clearest for a student in Kindergarten will be drastically di erent than what works best for a
student in fth grade. This issue is not new to UI/UX designers in education: Accelerated Reader
just released a new interface that speci cally addresses this mistake in assuming “children” are one
user type (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBc3To2gcN4#t=66).

We also have to keep in mind the nuanced variations in what adult users expect. For example,
teachers and event coordinators are both adult users that monitor student progress through the
site. However, teachers are primarily concerned with more detailed, data rich progress reports,
while event coordinators need overall progress statistics, with the option to delve deeper if
necessary. Developing user groups that are too broad, and then basing user interface decisions o
of those groups, has been our biggest mistake.

Jason Swett
Jason Swett is a software engineer and CEO of Snip Salon
Software, the easiest-to-use hair salon software there is.

The biggest interface design mistake, by far, is…

Not doing usability testing.

Just because the interface makes sense to the designer and even
to the boss doesn’t mean it will be intuitive for the end user. The
only way to know for sure that you have an easily usable interface design is to do usability testing
with testers representative of your end user. Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug is a good
introductory book on usability.

Pablo Diaz
Pablo Diaz is the Co-founder of App uence, makers of Priority Matrix, a
priority management software system that helps busy people decide
what to work on. Pablo has a Ph.D. in Computer Science for the
University of California, Irvine, and worked at Intel and IBM Research
before joining App uence.

The most frequent mistake in user interface design in software

these days is…

NOT following the expected convention.

Users are accustomed to a familiar way to work with their system, and sometimes designers go out
of their way to reinvent the building blocks by using non-standard elements and behavior.

If you are programming for a speci c platform, you have to spend time learning the best practices
for that platform so that your users don’t have to work to learn how to use your software. This is
very common these days with mobile applications. It is tempting to design the exact same software
for Android and iPhone to save time, but often times the result is less than ideal because users of
each device expect slightly di erent interfaces. Even though it requires more e ort, patience and
dedication, I recommend designing for each new platform from the ground up. In the long run, it is
always the best choice.
 Berrin Sun
Berrin Sun is an interactive graphics designer working at Ragic for
Product Marketing.

The biggest mistake made when doing UI design is de nitely…

Not thinking like the average user.

Having a good design is important, but if you di er too much from

a familiar interface, users lose their attention; while if you aren’t
unique enough, your design makes the product seem too generic.

Great design doesn’t always mean something would be attractive enough to use – just think of all
the business software that’s a designer’s nightmare. As a designer I personally try designing what I
would use on a daily basis, and making design elements for Ragic, our spreadsheet-like cloud
database, has proven quite a challenge, since I have to think like a businessperson who won’t have
to worry about the technicalities.

Jørgen Hookham
Jørgen Hookham is a Designer at Sokanu, an online social
platform and career test that helps people nd their perfect
career.

The biggest mistake that people make when designing user

interfaces for software is…

Going too deep, too fast with an unproven approach.

Designers are often inherently creative people, with tendencies to build, build, build. This is of
course a wonderful thing, but it’s out of hand when a designer spends a great deal of energy and
becomes attached to a design without taking the time to get in front of the right constraints. It’s
very easy to iterate when you’re working with software, which is one if it’s essential advantages as a
medium. If you’re not taking advantage of that fact, you’re missing out on your potential.

Making smaller investments of development time, balanced with research to understand your
audience and building the metrics you’ll use to measure performance will, generally speaking,
result in a better UI and happier designers.

Grayson De Ritis
Grayson De Ritis is a New Media Expert and a User Interface Designer with 15 years of experience.
He provides consulting to clients for various digital design and development needs such as
websites and graphics. Learn more about Grayson’s work at www.graysonderitis.com

The biggest and perhaps easiest mistake to make when designing user interfaces is…
 For teams to ultimately make critical development decisions
based on appeasing internal stakeholders as opposed to the real
audience -the external user base.

One must keep in mind, from the beginning of such a process to

the very end, that all user interface design decisions must be
aimed at provided the best possible experience for the people
who make or break a product – the customers.

Michael Riley
Michael Riley is the Founder of Simplpost, a new way to create
and manage custom websites. He has ten years experience in UX
design and usability testing, and his main focus has been on
websites and apps.

The #1 biggest mistake made, and the problem I see most

often when designing user/hardware interfaces is…

When designers assume how an interface will be used.

Usability testing is the best way to prevent building an interface that people don’t want to use.
Mockups should be tested with users before anything is built. It’s a huge mistake to build a UI
based on your intuition.

David Reischer
David Reischer manages the logistics associated with the Internet
processes of Legal Marketing Pages. As Chief Operating O cer,
David is responsible for all software processes for both client and
attorney registration and participation with the suite of websites serviced by Legal Marketing
Pages.

The number 1 mistake when designing a user interface is…

Too much complexity.

The world is a complex place and therefore products that are easy to use will always be favored by
customers. Customers crave simplicity. An elegant user experience that strips away complexity by
organizing, removing, or displacing is the key to developing a beautiful interface. Customers do not
want to fumble on a website, a smart phone or a computer printer.

A good design is always simple.

Heather Inocencio
Heather Inocencio is the Senior Vice President for Product at Card.com, the mobile- rst alternative
to traditional banking.
 One of the biggest mistakes in user interface design?…

Thinking you know best and not creating room for your users,
either directly or indirectly, to help you craft the perfect solution.

Great design caters to the needs and intentions of the user,

helping them to e ortlessly accomplish their goals while requiring
as little thought as possible. Understanding your users’ objectives
and motivations enables you to build solutions that most quickly
and easily satisfy getting to the end
result.

Put your working design into the hands of users, watch them interact, observe where they get stuck
and learn what delights them. Listen closely. They will tell you exactly what they need, what you
should
build. Iterate. Where possible, communicate function visually rather than through text, and lay out
a process that seamlessly guides the user from one step to the next.

Design with their needs in mind. Think from their perspective. And by getting direct and
uninterrupted user feedback, you can ensure you’ve created a truly engaging and enjoyable
experience.

Ricardo Fabila
Ricardo Fabila is an entrepreneur with personal experience when
it comes to designing online products and services. He has
worked with designing landing pages for online products and as a
consultant for people and businesses looking to create web and
phone applications. Connect with Ricardo: @Ricardo_Fabila.

I think that the most common mistake when it comes to User

Interface (UI) design is that…

People don’t understand what good design really means, and how your design should match the
situation you are in.

I am talking about context. See, phones and tablets are used in entirely di erent ways than desktop
or laptop computers, so your design needs to keep that context in mind through the entire
process.

Also, I think that the second most common mistake is how designers don’t put themselves on the
place of the user. This only leads to frustrating and painstaking User Experience (UX). A great
experience is an experience that you don’t notice. It seems e ortlessly simple and intuitive, and
doesn’t really make you think of the experience at all. It’s mostly the bad experiences the ones you
notice; the times you just can’t gure out how to use an app or when nding information on a
website seems impossible or when performing a task on web app/program is frustrating and slow.

See, it is di erent to design a webpage than to design a mobile app. For a webpage, you can get
away with having pages on the header and some link and information on the sidebar. But when it
comes to designing a mobile app, you what to make the experience as smooth and intuitive as
possible. This means less clutter; fewer buttons, removing unnecessary tabs, using dropable menus
for options that are not so commonly used…

So, put yourself on the shoes of the user. Ask yourself “How easy-to-use would my
app/webpage/program/product/etc would be for a complete new visitor/client?” If the answer to
this question is not a rotund “This is so simply to use, even a kid could do it” (or if you can’t answer
the question at all!), then it’s time to rethink your design.

Pradeep Kumar
Pradeep Kumar is the Founder & CEO of WebReinvent
Technologies Pvt. Ltd and Marketingaxle Pvt Ltd. The venture
WebReinvent Technologies Pvt Ltd by him delivers apex quality
services in the niche of UI Design & programming, web application
development, online promotions through integrated marketing
and brand building along with other information technology
services.

The biggest mistake user/hardware interface designers do is…

Underestimating the power of the CTA, or Call to Action.

When it comes to designing user/ hardware interfaces, we spend a mammoth amount of time in
making it look visually appealing to the user. A lot of brain storming goes into de ning how
beautiful or user friendly is a layout to attract him. But, underneath this prerequisite thought, lays a
graver object of consideration, i.e., how powerful is our call to him to engage with us. In plain
words, how intriguing is our CTA or Call to Action. You see it’s not about just looking pretty, it’s
about conversions.

CTA is an invitation to the viewer to engage with the concerned website/ webpage and carry out
actions like lling forms or looking through products, etc. Some examples of CTA include phrases
like, ‘Join us today’, ‘Click here to know more’, ‘Save 10% now’, etc.

At the end of the day, you don’t want just viewers; you want interested people who consider you
worth their time and are interacting with you. Calls to Action come into play when you want people
to engage with you. It, in a way, instills in them the thought that a website is interested in them and
values them by calling out to them. After all, it is the major source of revenue for most of us.

Call to Action should be prominently placed on your webpage and should be loud enough. When it
comes to designing, it’s always a good idea to place it on the top left corner of the page, above the
fold. No matter how beautiful or creative the website is, if there is no prominent call to action, there
will be no subscriber or prospective client. The whole purpose of your online presence would be
defeated.

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