UX Clinic

It’s always good to learn things about yourself. It means you’re growing. As a person. As a professional. As a tree…wait, not as a tree. Trees don’t learn.

Anyway, something I’ve learned about myself recently:

Nothing makes me drop f-bombs like shitty design.

I’m sure there are people who know me who could have told you that about me, but I never realized it was such a trigger until recently. And by recently, I mean about ten minutes ago.

So what sparked my moment of self-realization? A combination of two things, actually.

First, a heuristic analysis I’m hip-deep in at work. It’s bad, folks. Really, really bad–broken interface metaphors, disappearing menus, vague messaging, specialized terminology, inconsistent visual treatments. You name the rule, I can pretty readily point you to a place where this dev team has broken it. (It’s in fact bad enough that it’s almost inspired another rant about Agile…which is something I haven’t done in quite awhile.)

And second, Facebook’s newest design. This sparked such ire in me that I proceeded to rant about it on Facebook. Littering the landscape with f-bombs and other colorful language. Why does my potty mouth stand out in this instance as notable to me? Because I’m friends with my mother, various relatives, and some teachers from as far back as fourth grade on Facebook. As such, that’s generally not a venue where I let the “fuck” flag fly.

So, congratulations Facebook. You’ve released such a shitty design that you made me cuss in front of my mother. I’m hope you’re fucking proud of yourselves. Fucking idiots.