How systems mapping can help designers

Great design follows a strategy. In this throwback featured post, we love Olha Bahaieva, MA’s point that design goes beyond creativity. It involves making smart decisions that balance user needs, business goals, and technical realities. Rather than endlessly tweaking ideas without direction, designers should take a structured approach. Check out her article: https://lnkd.in/gpJ7EZ3G 💬 We asked Olha why she wrote the article: “I felt there was a need to share my experience to help others. I started writing on Medium in 2020 by sharing my knowledge, and I enjoyed it. This is why I do it in my spare time when I see the opportunity to write valuable articles.” Great design is about solving problems strategically, not just generating endless ideas. Here are her big ideas: 1. Design is problem-solving, not just creativity ↳ Design isn’t about making things look nice; it’s about creating solutions that work for users and businesses. 2. User personas help guide decisions ↳ Designers should use personas to focus on real user needs and avoid personal bias. 3. Clear goals prevent endless revisions ↳ Instead of making countless design versions, set clear goals and stick to them. 4. Learning from competitors makes design stronger ↳ Studying what others do well (and where they fail) helps create better products. 5. Collaboration with product owners is key ↳ Understanding business needs ensures the design fits both users and company goals. 6. A product roadmap keeps work on track ↳ Planning helps designers manage improvements and meet deadlines. 7. There’s no perfect design ↳ The goal isn’t perfection. It’s making the best choice based on research and strategy. That’s a sound list. 👉 The fastest way to avoid costly build mistakes is by testing your assumptions early. Use UX metrics with screenshots or small prototypes to see what works before you commit. Explore how in our open framework, Helio Glare. Join the community: https://lnkd.in/gynueqWu #uxresearch #productdiscovery #marketresearch #productdesign

"Clear feedback = Confident users." Is your design delivering this? People need to know what's going on.  When they use your product. Feedback helps them along the way. Users may feel lost or angry without it. Show them something when they click a button. Give feedback right away,  like changing the color of a button  or showing a loading spinner. This gives them peace of mind  that their action is being taken care of. Messages about errors should be clear and simple. Don't use technical language. Make sure users can understand the problem. Positive feedback makes people feel better about themselves. A simple message of success can make people feel good about how far they've come. It makes them want to keep going. Keep in mind that feedback doesn't just tell users what happened. It tells them what to do next. Users stay informed and interested when they get clear feedback. Small changes in feedback can have a big impact. Make sure your design gives clear directions. It will make people trust you more and make their experience better. PS: Want to improve your UX design?        Comment below.⬇️ —-------------------------------------------------------- For more valuable content, follow me, Manik M.  and to stay updated on my future posts. ♻️ Repost to help others in your network.    

90% of “design problems” aren’t design problems at all.  They’re simply conversion problems. Most teams rush to redesign their UI and here’s why   because we naturally try to fix what we can see. The layout.   The colors.   The buttons. It’s visible, it’s tangible, it feels like progress.  But the real gem isn’t what you see on the screen it’s hidden inside the user path that guides people to value. One unclear step in onboarding can silently kill 30% of your new users  before they ever experience your product’s magic. I’ve seen startups lift conversions by 20–40%   without a full redesign —   just by aligning messaging, flow, and micro-interactions. Design doesn’t live in pixels.  It lives in how quickly users reach their “aha” moment. So if you want to find out where your UX is quietly leaking users drop a “UX AUDIT” below or DM me.  I’ll review your key flow (homepage → signup → first action)   and show you 2–3 small fixes that can make a massive difference. Because a good design looks nice.   But a great design converts.

My first major design project? A masterclass in what NOT to do. It failed spectacularly, and it was the best education I ever received. We were building an internal tool, convinced our slick UI and 'innovative' features would solve everything. The problem? We designed for ourselves, not the actual users struggling with clunky legacy systems. The result was a beautiful, feature-rich product nobody adopted. It became a monument to our assumptions. This early setback hammered home a crucial truth: design isn't just about aesthetics; it's about deep empathy, rigorous validation, and integrating real user workflows. I learned that ignoring user context, especially in complex enterprise environments, is a recipe for expensive design debt and low ROI. That painful lesson became the bedrock of my approach today, guiding how I strategize with global teams to prevent similar adoption pitfalls and ensure solutions genuinely serve their intended audience. What's the biggest UX bottleneck you've faced in your organization, and what did it teach you? Share your insights. Share your insights.

Why do you want to redesign your site? If your reason is one of the following… → "We haven't updated in years" → "It looks amateurish" → "We’re just bored with it" ... let’s take a step back and reevaluate for jumping into a major overhaul initiative. Drastic changes aren't just expensive—they're risky. Users can even resist change even when the new design is objectively better. They've learned your interface. They've built mental models around it. Change can be disruptive! Before committing to a full redesign, ask yourself: 💡 Do we have data showing this is necessary? Maybe only small changes are needed? 💡 Are we solving real user problems or just chasing trends, aesthetic, and fancy tech? 💡 How costly will an overhaul be? And will it actually benefit users? Most visitors don't stare at your site daily like you do. They care about completing tasks and as long as they can do them efficiently is what matters. The real question isn't "Should we do a redesign?"… It's "Is the improvement worth the user disruption and organizational investment?” Read more in Hoa Loranger's article to see when an overhaul might actually be necessary (cause sometimes it is worth it): https://bit.ly/3J12uha If this gets you thinking, try our UX Roadmaps course to help your team create strategic, practical plans to align, prioritize, and communicate UX work: https://bit.ly/3ABu5kC #UXDesign #ProductDesign #Design #NNGroup

Love this meaningful reflection regarding redesigns. It’s also important to know *how* to roll out a design overhaul... When introducing a redesign, the business and your customers may benefit from a phased approach. Create a future state vision with a path to get there by focusing on critical user journeys, then secondary touch points. Consider first changing basic global styles before redesigning entire components. Do so iteratively, evaluating their performance over time. As mentioned by NN/g, changing everything at once can be risky and also make it difficult to identify what’s driving lift vs drag.

This. 👇 Before you redesign, ask yourself: what problem are we actually solving? Valid reasons to redesign: - High drop-off rates at critical points - New functionality that requires flow changes - UX principles being violated (cognitive overload, poor hierarchy, accessibility issues) Not-so-valid reasons: - "We're bored with it" - "It looks dated" - "Our competitor just redesigned" Function > Aesthetics. Always. If your users can complete their tasks efficiently, a visual refresh might just disrupt the mental models they've built over time. And that friction? It costs conversions. Make aesthetic changes only when they serve a UX purpose, better information hierarchy, reduced cognitive load (Miller's Law), improved scannability. Otherwise, you're just rearranging deck chairs. Got data showing real user pain points? Then yes, redesign. Don't have data? Get it first.

Really interesting and relevant post. A nice reminder to assess user wants and needs before designing. Early validation > rapid iteration. This article also cues the idea that a good UX Designer not only improves visual experiences but saves businesses valuable resources like time and money!

𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒐𝒓𝒔 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 . In the last post, I talked about my Aunty’s door, the one that locks you out if you step outside without the key. A door like that teaches us a lot about bad UX. But let’s talk about the solutions. If I am to fix that door, here’s what I will suggest: Add a handle that lets you open it from the outside unless it’s intentionally locked. Make the lock a conscious action, not something that happens by mistake. Even a small reminder, like a sound or a signal, before it shuts completely, will save someone from that frustration. Because the truth is: users aren’t the problem. The design is. Good UX should feel forgiving. It should expect human error and give people a way back in. That’s how I see it: a door that guides instead of punishes, and a product that welcomes instead of frustrates. Great design doesn’t shut people out, it keeps the way open. I’m Enyinnaya Favour, a Product Designer who believes design should feel natural, supportive, and human, and not frustrating. What other simple suggestions do you think could turn this bad UX into a great one? I would love to hear from you in the comments section👇 #ProductDesign #UXDesign #UserExperience #DesignThinking #HumanCenteredDesign #Impact500