Design Debt - UX Words to Know

What is design debt in UX?

If you've ever used a website or app that felt difficult to navigate and seemed outdated or inconsistent, then these could be signs of design debt.

Think of design debt like a cluttered closet that gets harder to clean the longer you put it off.

It happens when design decisions are made without enough research, or when design elements are inconsistent. When design debt builds up, it might get harder to introduce new updates to a product, and you might reduce user satisfaction.

Design debt is similar to the term technical debt in software development, but it's more subjective and harder to detect. Technical debt is the implied cost incurred when businesses don’t fix problems that will affect them in the future. It’s like the leaky pipes in your home that need fixing - it's expensive to maintain over time if not addressed early on. Design debt, on the other hand, is about the user experience and how it evolves over time. A big difference is that design debt is more subjective and harder to detect than technical debt, as it relates to the user experience rather than the underlying code.

Example

Imagine you release a mobile app without properly testing it for usability. Users find it difficult to navigate and then leave negative reviews.

Then, you decide to add new features to the app without addressing the existing issues, and the app becomes even more cluttered and confusing. You’ve now accumulated design debt, and it’ll take a lot of effort to fix the usability issues and make the app more user-friendly.

In summary, design debt is the accumulated imperfections in the user experience that arise over time as a result of insufficient research, feedback, or consistency. It can lead to slower development, reduced user satisfaction, and increased costs in the long term.

So try not to rack up that design debt so you can maintain a high-quality user experience.