Tragic Design

The Tragedy of Bad Design

Well-designed products, software and services aid and delight users. Bad design annoys, distresses and, in some cases, harms them. When designers fulfill business objectives at the expense of users, poor design is often the result. Good design improves and eases users’ lives. It enhances their experience, a result that smart companies want and often pay a lot to achieve.  

Design should make your product stand out, since your competitors usually can copy or match your features and services. However, design’s primary responsibility is to protect users from poor design, even when clients de-emphasize design quality in favor of other business needs. Under pressure, designers may acquiesce to client demands for speed or savings, but they also should educate their clients and follow a code of ethics. That will help them avoid the consequences of tragic design errors, such as what happened to Jenny.

A young cancer patient, Jenny started a new, aggressive treatment requiring intravenous hydration before and after receiving potent medicine. The nurses did ...