The FUD scale in design

Picture a linear scale with “Frustrating” as the left extreme and “Delightful” as the right extreme. Somewhere in the middle, there’s a sliding benchmark called “Usable”. Let’s call this scale the Frustrating-Usable-Delightful scale, or the FUD scale for short. Where companies decide to place the “Usable” mark says a lot about that organization’s design maturity. If the “Usable” mark is towards the left, it says that the company has a low bar for what’s acceptably passable as good design. If the “Usable” mark is leaning more towards the “Delightful” end, then the company has a pretty high bar for the expected quality of design that they ship.

More often than not, the “Usable” slider is at the dead center by default. Product startups are in this weird place right now where they value design well enough to invest in it, but not enough to exploit its full potential. Designers often feel stretched thin when it comes to implementing micro-interactions or little finishing touches of polish in an experience because it’s incredibly difficult to quantify and measure their value.

I wish every hiring manager and every creative recruiter just showed every prospective design hire the FUD scale and marked where the “Usable” line is on it for that specific company or industry. It would make things so much easier for both parties. A company like Robinhood has its “Usable” mark way over to the right, almost touching the “Delightful” end. A company like Craigslist will have “Usable” somewhere between the “Frustrating” and the midway point. Oftentimes, the priorities of the organization are driven by factors like monetization and growth, not necessarily the core user experience.

And this is okay. It’s fine to recognize and publicly declare that your current focus is not on delightful design and is instead of leveraging advertising channels through different partners. It’s fine to say that you’d rather not frustrate your users and you care about design to the point of usability. It’s good to acknowledge that design is one of the many things you’re balancing within your organization. This paints a better picture of what to expect for the designer. It’s better for them to know this before coming on board than realizing it when they start.

There’s nothing worse for a designer than having their designs implemented incorrectly and having it shipped off simply because the engineering team needed to hit a deadline and didn’t care too much about being pixel-perfect. It reflects poorly on the designer’s skill set as well as the company’s overall commitment to good design. If the company objectives are to focus on design to the extent of good usability and stop there, then make it heard to the designer. Don’t expect delightful designs if you’re not going to aim for it in the first place. The FUD scale is a tool to assist with making your mind up about it. That is all.