It’s a question that comes up regularly and especially a feeling shared on social networks. For a few years now, there has been a feeling that the UX design of applications is regressing and more generally that digital ergonomics are not as good as they used to be.

Where does this feeling come from and is it a reality?

UX has become mainstream

UX design is a very recent discipline. Although it was born in the 90s, it was not until 20 years ago that designers specialized in this aspect of product design appeared on the job market. Before the 2010s, user experience was a secondary element of design.

Two logics existed then:

• Utility, software maximized its value proposition, and users were expected to learn how to use the software by following a manual
• Usability, products maximized ergonomics to ensure that the software had a logical and easy-to-use interface.

Don Norman said in his first version of “the design of everyday things” that usability was the most important aspect of product design. It is only in his second revision that he will come back to this notion and explain that emotional, aesthetic, and playful aspects are essential to product design.

Ux design is not something related to the presence of a specific element. It’s about the overall experience users will have when they interact with a product.

A good user experience is therefore based on :

• The usefulness of the product, what does it allow to do better than before
• Ergonomics, is the product adapted to the user, his physical, psychological, and social characteristics?
• Its aesthetics, is the product beautiful and makes you want to go towards it?
• Its playful aspects, does the product seem fun to use?

All these aspects create a holistic experience when interacting with the product. We want this experience to be as positive as possible.

Even if we try to satisfy as many profiles as possible, all users have a different experience and an experience that varies over time.

If we consider that UX design is regressing, it means that some of the aspects that compose it have regressed.

UX design takes its full potential with the arrival of the iPhone and mobile applications. The question of usability and user experience was something related to software packages or video games. With the arrival of smartphones, phones can suddenly do a thousand things through a single device, the Ux design then becomes the differentiating element between two applications with the same purpose.

The multiplication of applications offering a good user experience in the private world has influenced professional software and applications. The ergonomics and usability, but also the aesthetics of all products have known a leap forward at this time.

Today we are all used to using intuitive, beautiful, and practical software, an application that would not be so would be immediately rejected by the general public and could only address a niche.

The software allows to do more and more things thanks to an increased computing power; the ergonomics of the software follows construction bases thanks to heuristics and rules of thumb; the aesthetics are taken into account and follow artistic trends.

The feeling of regression is not related to the Ux of the applications but the user experience of the digital world.

The digital ecosystem

Until the 2000s, digital technology, computing, and the Internet remained concepts linked to the professional world. Few people had a personal computer at home. Using software or a website at that time was perceived as an isolated action with no repercussions.

Today almost everyone has a computer or a smartphone to access the internet. Using an application is therefore an activity that is part of a set of digital interactions, private or professional, throughout the day.

The applications, and therefore the experiences of use, are all inserted in an ecosystem. It is the experience of using this ecosystem that is at the root of the general feeling of regression in UX

Internet users are confronted all day long with various sites, each with its logic, rules, and UX design. There is a need for flexibility on the part of users as they adapt throughout their day to applications that feel they have achieved the perfect logic for a good user experience.

Every company has a website, a page on all the major social networks, an application. SAAS are multiplying and smartphones are more and more used to doing everything. This need for the digital presence of all companies has made the need for Ux designers explode.

As Ux has become something commonplace, non-experts have expectations of Ux designers, the expectation of designing an application that pleases. The core of the problem lies in this level of design, an application is not used in isolation. It is linked to dozens of others and is part of a life where digital is always present.

If some people feel that Ux design is regressing, it’s because of the lack of consideration for the ecosystem in which the applications will evolve.

All the rules of Ux design can be perfectly applied, but will still create friction if the logic of use has been thought only for the application and not for the ecosystem.

The example of login is telling: if you have to create an account by inserting a login and a password on an application, it’s not something disturbing, but this action will have to be repeated for dozens of services. The good experience that will stand out will therefore be the application where you don’t have to rewrite your login once again.

In addition to the design logic, there is also the business logic of companies. The user experience can be impacted if an application constantly tries to make us buy its premium version or passes us ads.

In this category, Youtube is probably the most telling case.
The platform has gone from a place of uninhibited creativity to a site that censors any content not add-friendly enough. Ads have also multiplied and are passed in pairs before, during, and after each video, making the viewing of several videos unbearable without the use of an ad blocker that is only available on a computer or tablet, but not on a phone.
The interface may be ergonomic and beautiful, but the user experience has been completely ruined by advertising.

Taking into account the ecosystem will be the challenge of this decade. We are using tools and navigation logic that were designed twenty years ago. The world is much more connected today and there is a need not to feel slowed down by the digital tools we use every day.

What should be done?

Ux designers need to go one step further when they are conceiving a product and explain to stakeholders why some features should be lost to promote a good ecosystem experience for users.

Old design logic should be challenged. Having to write down things over and over, creating a profile on every application and many more 20 years old features are outdated. Digital life should be frictionless. When people go online, they should feel as if they are walking down the street.

Marketing shouldn’t take over Ux design, ever. Selling stuff is good, but most users don’t care, they just want to enjoy an app. The layout of any application must promote usability. Marketing comes second. It is a point aimed at stakeholders, but designers can do one thing: include the promoted stuff and the ads in their mock-up and prototype. By doing so, they can feel the point where marketing is impacting Ux design