The Hidden Dangers of Design Debt: How Cutting Corners Can Cost You
When it comes to product design and development, it’s easy to accumulate excess code, design elements, and unanswered questions. However, cutting corners can lead to a buildup of design debt, which can have serious consequences for your business.
What is Design Debt?
Design debt refers to mistakes made during the design process that become expensive to fix later on. These mistakes can be costly, leading to revenue loss, overwhelmed product teams, and missed business objectives. Design debt is often compared to technical debt, which results from bad development practices, but it’s caused by two specific design practices: neglecting design systems and UX research.
The Consequences of Clutter and Inconsistency
As a design matures, it’s natural for it to accumulate more properties and components. However, this can lead to clutter and inconsistency, causing design files to become slow and confusing. This, in turn, can lead to a lack of patterns, making it difficult for users to learn how to use your product. The effects of clutter and inconsistency can be devastating, resulting in lost revenue and inefficient product teams.
The Root of the Problem
The root of the problem is our reluctance to tidy up our design and create a design system. We often feel that it’s a waste of time, especially in the early stages of development. However, finding the perfect balance between order and speed is crucial. By setting up tokens, styles, and components in your design tool, you can iron out initial inconsistencies and create a solid foundation for your design system.
Upgrading to Design Systems and DesignOps
As your product grows, it’s essential to upgrade your design workflow to a more sophisticated DesignOps process. This involves creating design system documentation, establishing a review process, and enabling stakeholders to suggest design system changes. By doing so, you can ensure that your design system is efficient, scalable, and easy to use.
Recovering from Design System Debt
If you’ve already accumulated design system debt, it’s essential to reduce the time and money wasted via stakeholder and UX audits. By completing the necessary steps, you can address the most confusing aspects of your design system and commit to improving it over time.
The Dangers of Neglecting Research
Neglecting research is another significant contributor to design debt. By skipping critical research processes, you risk making the wrong decisions and not fully understanding why they were wrong. This can lead to failed attempts, wasted resources, and a lack of understanding of user needs.
The Importance of Research
Research is a crucial part of the design process, and it’s essential to do it right. By conducting formative and summative research, you can discover problems, solve them with design, and confirm the solution. By embracing failure and learning from mistakes, you can improve your design and save time and money in the long run.
Getting Buy-In for Research and Design Systems
Communicating the value of addressing design debt and research is crucial. By citing studies and case studies, you can demonstrate the benefits of investing in research and design systems. It’s essential to highlight the questions you have and explain why only users can answer them. By doing so, you can get buy-in from stakeholders and create a more efficient, scalable, and user-friendly design process.
The Key Takeaway
The key takeaway is that design debt is a serious issue that can have significant consequences for your business. By avoiding design debt, investing in research, and creating efficient design systems, you can save time and money, improve user experience, and increase revenue. Remember, it’s all about incremental changes and finding the perfect balance between order and speed.