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Ongoing debate over new Figma UI

3 years ago from Mattan Ingram, http://mattaningram.com

  • Sacha GreifSacha Greif, 3 years ago

    If they've done testing then I trust them, but I personally think it's a step back in terms of usability and discoverability.

    I also think there's a real bias among designers once we get familiar with a UI, where removing stuff always looks "better" to us because we only see the visual improvements without perceiving the decrease in usability for users not as familiar with the product as we are.

    It's also the reason why so many logo redesign consist of taking a well-known mark and simplifying it or removing part of it. It seems like a natural evolution towards more "elegant" design, but at the same time slowly chips away at what made the mark successful in the first place…

    12 points
    • Zsolt Kacso, 3 years ago

      Interesting point, however, in both cases would you say the target audience are people already familiar with it and for them it works.

      0 points
      • Sacha GreifSacha Greif, 3 years ago

        I would say the more familiar you are, the better it will work for you. So it's a spectrum going from designers working at Figma who are 100% familiar with the product and can manage fine with no borders whatsoever, all the way down to new users who have never opened a graphics app in their lives.

        I'd say most of us fall somewhere along that spectrum, but personally even as a regular Figma user I much prefer the old UI.

        3 points
        • Denis RojcykDenis Rojcyk, 3 years ago

          I'm not sure. I know the product very well, have been using it primarily for over a year now. I was really familiar with it, but now I spend an unproportional amount of time just looking for the inputs and not getting lost in the structure.

          I would argue it might be the opposite. The less familiar you were with it, the better it will work for you.

          1 point
    • Mattan IngramMattan Ingram, 3 years ago

      Eli Schiff does not approve of your trust: https://twitter.com/eli_schiff/status/1113992202286510080

      He doesn't reply to me on Twitter anymore because I kept teasing him about his politics (I don't block people on Twitter), but I do tend to agree with his take on things like this.

      Our obsession with being nice to a fault means it's difficult to have real conversations about the value and process of redesigns like this. I don't want to hurt the feelings of the designers who worked on this, but I also want to make it clear that this is not just standard backlash to any kind of change.

      -1 points
    • Ktrn DsrsKtrn Dsrs, 3 years ago

      I am probably one of the very few who were really happy with the UI update. And I wonder how would have be my reaction 1y ago when I was not that much familiar with Figma. Probably the face that I know the interface by heart create a bias for me...

      0 points