Product Design is a multi-disciplinary and vast field. There is a lot of wisdom and knowledge available in the market. With a lot of beneficial information and insight available online, there’s always room for myths to grow.

This blog is an attempt at debunking some of the popular myths surrounding this field. The myths are around the idea of the nature of design, the role of experience, team communication, and the idea of usability testing.

Let’s take a look.

1. Design can follow a ‘one size fits all’ mindset:

Good design is in the details. One might think that design follows a one-size-fits-all mindset, but that is not accurate.

One size, fit all mindset is an approach that assumes that the same product will appeal to all demographics.

Instead, a designer has to be inclusive of all of the different demographics using the product.

Inclusive Design is a design practice where products and services are designed in a way that they are accessible and can serve as many people as possible, regardless of their age, gender, or ability. The goal is to serve people all across the world instead of a section of them.

2. Beautiful and minimal design = great usability:

Aesthetic design is a great thing; it can make a product look clean and beautiful. However, an aesthetic design does not necessarily make a product practical.

It is possible for a beautiful design to create a product more difficult to use. Ever wondered why we have not seen Dribbble-like products in real life? That’s because those designs do not have great usability. They’re only good in their aesthetic sense.

It’s easy to get caught up in the idea of stripping away all the clutter and having an app that is very easy on the eyes, but this is not always practical.

It’s essential to have the core aspects of the functionality readily available to the user while having an advanced version presented to advanced users once they are needed.

A designer should always keep in mind that aesthetics and fashionable UI don’t take over the usability of the product, hiding important guiding features for the sake of clean UI.

Also, take note that the opposite of this is a myth as well: Aesthetics are not important if you have good usability.

Design is not just about how it looks but about how it feels.

3. Design is a linear process:

Design is anything but a linear process. Design has an iterative nature.

The designer will create and refine the designs based on the inputs and refine his design iteratively based on feedback, and this will take place until the design is approved and ready to be handed over to the dev team.

It’s very asynchronistic, particularly after some late stages in design like the UI phase, particularly in more complex products.

4. Every team needs to get involved in the design strategy:

Sometimes it’s best to leave the design strategy and actual designing to the designers and let non-designers/other teams focus on strengthening other parts of the project.

All the teams involved don’t have to get involved in the design strategy.

While designers help develop a team’s design strategy, the other teams involved should know how it affects the big picture of the project(s).

5. “Believe me, I’m a senior designer”:

While a designer may have a clear vision for a design, a designer needs to consider how a user will interact with the design.

Regardless of how perfectly the product is designed and meets the users’ known needs, the user does not always behave in the predicted manner.

Because of this, usability testing for a design is necessary.

Once the designer tests out the design, the areas of improvement can be identified.

However, an expert review before usability testing is beneficial since it helps avoid exposing users to obvious usability mistakes. The usability testing helps uncover unforeseen gaps.

By running it through usability testing, you increase the likelihood that the users will be content with the result.

Maintain a healthy skepticism about everything

It’s easy to fall for reductive anecdotes particularly in a field that is as perceptually subjective as product design. However, the truth, as it usually is, is far more complex. Keep an open mind to new thoughts, and even some cliches, but always stay shrewd.

The Canvs Editorial team comprises of: Editorial Writer and Researcher- Paridhi Agrawal and Anjali Baliga, the Editor’s Desk- Aalhad Joshi and Debprotim Roy, and Content Operations- Abin Rajan

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