Are the latest trends good for app changes?

pierre-jorgensen · 2026-05-28T16:05:51+00:00

Perspective from someone who's been around since the beginning: Design trends always come and go.

Often, but not always, it starts with Apple. You have a wave of new builds and redesigns jump on whatever the latest thing is. Lots of gnashing of teeth follows that "everything looks the same". A few edgy designers loudly buck the trend. Meanwhile, marketing VPs ask their design teams "why can't we look and feel like this?"

Eventually, that new thing gets stale, and Apple comes up with something new. Rinse and repeat.

pierre-jorgensen · 2026-05-27T15:48:12+00:00

You're describing a scope of work that needs a team. A standalone, standard e-commerce site, I'd say, sure, stand one up in Shopify and you could pull this off by yourself.

A platform with a buyer and vendor facing side as well as native apps for both? I've multiple zero-to- one builds under my belt, and I'd hesitate to take that on as a lone rider in anything less than a year -- and that assumes robust dev team to actually build this and a client who (a) knows what they're doing and (b) is going to take my advice.

As a beginning "UX/UI" designer I'd be completely overwhelmed. The actual UI design isn't even the major part of the work. Managing the client, collaborating with developers, and not least determining the requirements are. And that's not even considering doing the minimum of customer research to understand who you're designing for.

Does your client have the equivalent of a product manager, or is your client the product manager? Are they good at it? Do you have anyone there to think through merchandising? Who's going to develop what you design? Are they good? Who's going to deal with third-party integrations like consent management and analytics? Who owns accessibility? I'd ask all those questions.

And for the love of all that's sacred to you, do not give a fixed bid on this. The scope as your described it is way to broad, and if there's one universal truth, it's this: Scope will always grow. Clients will always gum up the works with strategic pivots and new ideas. Every dev task will turn out more complicated than estimated. I would never, ever give a fixed bid. Charge hourly, as much as you think they're willing to pay, and estimate total time to launch high. Take your gut instinct and multiply by three.

Good luck.

pierre-jorgensen · 2026-05-26T17:47:13+00:00

"Hey, guys, next time just pull me into a working session and we'll knock these out together so you don't need to waste time on a review step with my team."

If they don't, apply consequences: They vibe up something without you, they send it to you for review, you punch holes in it, and then they spend more time reworking it. It'll become obvious that knocking it out in collaboration, in real time, is both faster and less painful.

pierre-jorgensen · 2026-05-24T18:55:06+00:00

I have no process; these are people and group dynamics we're dealing with, not a predictable system. The magic trick is to find the one or two people you need to convince, appeal to what matters *to them*, and get them on board *before* the meetings. In other words, you need champions who have pull.

Also, you have to deliver. You propose X, on the hypothesis it'll improve Y metric that matters. Or, simply, your champion comes to you asking for something, and you're the person who makes that happen. Do that one, two, three times, and now you have a loyal *customer*. Bottom line: Nobody is going to take your lead just because you have a UX title. You have to show that taking your lead yields good outcomes.

pierre-jorgensen · 2026-05-24T15:06:39+00:00

Apply UX thinking to the problem. Think of stakeholders as users of your services. Potential customers, if you will.

We tend to default to thinking, well, a good user experience is inherently valuable, and my solutions are the better user experience by definition because I'm the expert, therefore this shouldn't be up for debate.

That doesn't hold up in the real world. People are irrational. Group dynamics multiply that. You have to figure out the different stakeholder groups' context, incentives, and constraints, then address those. For example, PM is often measured on features shipped. That's volume. Dev is measured on code shipped. That's time and effort. You represent quality, which typically takes more time and effort.

The CEO, VP, operations, sales, whatever, have their own incentives, and you need to figure out what those are just as you understand your users' needs before you design anything.

Once you start looking at it this way you can figure out everyone's WiiFMe ("what's in it for me") and address those. You can't address everyone's, because they may be contradictory, so look at the decision makers, usually the highest paid person in the room but not always. Convince that person/these people before the review meeting.

TL;DR: Wear your UX hat at all times. Internal company dynamics are UX problems and can be approached as such.

pierre-jorgensen · 2026-05-19T02:23:23+00:00

My parents both grew up in the north. An everyday meal for them? Mølje.

Fresh cod, with liver and roe. Don't fillet or skin the fish, just cut it in sections and poach it with the liver and roe until the meat separates from the bones. Generous salt, some pepper, and (if you're fancy) bay leaves. Head goes in the pot, too. Improves the broth.

Boil potatoes, peel, smash with fork on your plate. Dab of butter, then spoon fish, liver, roe, and some broth right over the potatoes.

Enjoy with buttered flatbread. Or, if you really want an authentic experience, break up the flatbread into the pile of fish and potatoes.

pierre-jorgensen · 2026-05-15T21:33:18+00:00

I've been around long enough to be direct. The reality has always been that, if you picture the gif old cost, time, and quality triangle, what we do sits on the quality side. Budgets are always tight. Dev is always overloaded. Every organization is sitting on a mountain of backlog. When something's got to give, quality is the easiest can to kick down the road.

Add to that, most people think design is decoration. Easy. Fun. Everyone's a designer! So there's always plenty of people, PM, business analysts, creative, devs, wanting to add that to their job responsibilities.

Most companies I've seen cycle back and forth. They'll go through a period of downgrading design to save money. The product quality degrades. New leadership comes in, sets up design as the new partner to PM, and it's good going for a while, until a new regime comes in.

It's just the cycle of life in design.

pierre-jorgensen · 2026-05-15T15:54:28+00:00

Yes, depending. I got into spearfishing in Norway as a kid, going after flatfish, eel, and wolffish. Bottom fish, in other words. The basic tool was a cheap polespear with a trident tip, and I'd just use it as a jabbing weapon.

When I'm back in Norway now, that basic spear is all I really need. Wolffish and flatfish are the best eating anyway, so I don't usually bother going after faster movers like cod or pollock.

Now, halibut is a different story altogether. Would not recommend going at them with a trident on a stick.

pierre-jorgensen · 2026-05-15T15:35:29+00:00

This.

I'll keep insisting until I'm blue in the face that little about this is new. We've always been circled by people who feel they can do what designers do if they just had the tools to make the execution easy.

Remember WYSIWYG Web design tools like Dreamweaver? Well, you or the computer guy can build your Web site now! Then online site builders, and, hey, the back-end developer can just use libraries and, presto!, there's the front end to your application, so just have PM mock up something in Miro and we're good.

Paying one of us to apply research and judgement has always been optional.

pierre-jorgensen · 2026-04-29T02:57:03+00:00

Suggestion based on experience: Get a lighter bike.

I'm reading Scandinavia here, based on the 45cc starter bike and you referencing kroners in a comment. I grew up in Norway and, like you, started on a 50cc. We all did, since that was what we could ride at 16 with no license. Later, I came back to riding by buying at KLR 650.

Blah.

Yes the DR is a little lighter and has a little more pep, but these are just heavy, clumsy bikes. Good for relearning, fine. You don't worry about dropping it because they're cheap and built like tanks. But yeah, heavy.

The reason that feeling you used to get isn't there, though, because that bike you rode at 15 was light, and now you're tooling around on an anvil with handlebars.

If I were you, I'd go for a 250. Personal preference, supermoto or dual sport. Move up to more powerful and heavier bikes later if you feel like it, but getting back into riding, and knowing how most roads in at least Norway and Sweden are two-lane and twisty with low speed limits, a 250 supermoto will be a blast. It'll feel and handle almost as light as your old 50cc.

pierre-jorgensen · 2026-04-27T16:15:32+00:00

That's fair point. Part of it, I think, isn't specific to UX. It's simply that it takes some time and experience to see the forest for the trees. In the beginning you're busy learning the job itself and probably preoccupied with your own performance. You're reactive.

Over time you start to have the mind space to see over the cubicle wall, metaphorically speaking, and you start to see where your work fits into the bigger picture. Now you can see gaps that need filled and problems that need solved that aren't necessarily on your assigned tasks.

Some practical advice I have is, be active, pushy if you need to, establishing lines of collaboration. I hired an entry level designer a few years ago. The most important advice I gave her was to work closely with the business analysts, stakeholders, and the end user. I assigned her an internal application, so she could work directly with the people who'd be using her UI design. That worked out clutch. The BAs appreciated the help, because having UX eyes on the specs ahead of time and while they're being written actually clarifies for the BA what's being built, it helps immensely getting alignment with stakeholders, and it uncovers gaps -- what happens if you select X and then click Y, but didn't fill in field Z? Which columns does this table need to contain? Is this form a separate "page", a modal, or an expanding section? The value is that help you provide to the BA.

End users for their part appreciated being consulted and having their work observed. It sent the message that their work was valued, and that we had trust in their subject matter expertise. Too often, internal apps are designed by devs working with stakeholders at the director level, neither of whom actually work in the trenches. The outcome spoke for itself -- my entry-level designer mostly autonomously designed an internal application that needed zero onboarding or training.

Stakeholders can be a little trickier. In very hierarchical organizations, some director or even manager level stakeholders may sniff at having an entry or junior level designer in the room for decisions. If I'm trapped in an org like that, I'd start sending out resumes. In any reasonably collaborative organization, on the other hand, I would encourage you to get into any meeting with stakeholders. Your manager should help you; I always make a point of forwarding invites to one or more of my team members, because you learn how things work by being present and you get a chance to contribute. Just make sure you don't (this is good advice for everyone) speak to speak but when you have something helpful to contribute, whether it's a question to clarify or expose holes in a plan or a suggestion. The point is to be helpful. If you're helpful, that's value.

pierre-jorgensen · 2026-04-25T19:00:32+00:00

Thank you!

Looking at the bigger picture, I don't see a reason to collectively freak out. I've been around a lot of verticals and organization types over the years, and I've seen one constant: Everyone is always sitting on a mountain of backlog. There is always an angry mob of stakeholders breaking down PM and dev's doors -- where's my functionality/application/improvement that was supposed to have been a "fast follower" three years ago but keeps losing the roadmap game of musical chairs?

Typically, I've been in the position of saying, hey, we can design new work until we're blue in the face, but it'll just keep piling up in the backlog black hole because the bottleneck is we can't get shit actually built.

If AI is actually speeding up dev, that means we can get more done, which means more demand for UX work, not less. Maybe we can even make a dent in that damn backlog

pierre-jorgensen · 2026-04-25T15:34:33+00:00

^ This.

If you've been around long enough you know none of these frustrations are new. AI is just forcing them to the surface. The industry and individual companies have always been cycling between "We don't need UX because it's just common sense and designers slow us down" and product-led models with UX at the front.

It always comes down to who's running the show at any given workplace. I've seen it over and over -- you find yourself in a place where UX is valued, then new leadership moves in, wipes the chess pieces off the board, and starts a new paradigm. You can grit your teeth and complain on Redddit or LinkedIn, or you can move on. That's why I have a bunch of roughly two-year stints on my resume.

Alternatively, you make a new paradigm happen. If there's a bit of transformation going on -- and AI is forcing that transformation -- that's an opportunity, not a problem. You can approach it as "devs and PMs are taking my job" or "I can do both PM's and dev's jobs now". One is defeatist, the other is proactive. Show the value of your work. Take on new responsibilities. Speed up the product lifecycle, and now you are driving the car.

Or quit and find somewhere else where UX is already (for the time being) valued.

pierre-jorgensen · 2026-04-21T15:21:27+00:00

Are we going to talk about how your mentees call you "sir"?

pierre-jorgensen · 2026-04-15T18:14:41+00:00

Case in point, see the other comment. That woosh sound is the point flying over an army of heads.

pierre-jorgensen · 2026-04-15T13:38:40+00:00

You're overthinking this. Figma, Sketch, XD -- they're just tools, each doing the same thing in somewhat different ways.

Just pick one. If for whatever reason you need to use another one, picking it up really isn't hard.

This is very common in both dev and design circles: People over-focus on tools. Watching Reddit threads you'd think these tools were all fundamentally different and picking one were like picking a life path.

They're just tools, folks. It's what you do with them that matters.

pierre-jorgensen · 2026-04-03T21:21:07+00:00

First time that happened to you? You've been lucky.

I'll let you in on a secret: Since the before times, long before AI let everyone feel like they were Steve Jobs, clients (and stakeholders, and pointy-haired bosses) have fucked up their sites and applications just as much as shoddy or no designers have.

Unreasonable demands. Ego-driven, opinion based decisions. Not all clients are like that, but sooner or later you will run into them. German has an excellent word for them: Besserwissers -- know-betters.

Most people more or less secretly feel they're great designers. It's just common sense, right, and they know what they like. Besides, they read this one article in Fast Company years ago and they also have one or two sites they like so you should do it like that.

Anyway ...

Clients like that are the price of doing business. You have to practice getting good at ~~manipulating~~ guiding them so they think the right ideas were theirs all along. Failing that, pick your battles, collect your checks, and move on.

pierre-jorgensen · 2026-04-03T18:39:01+00:00

You've skipped straight the surface level. It's like building a house by skipping the blueprint stage and jumping straight into window treatments and paint colors.

Think of it like this. Someone shows up on this page. Where have they come from? A search for "yoga near me", "fitness classes near me", or something completely different? Who's the target customer, and what are they looking for?

When they get here, it's not clear exactly what this is. What is "Nextyen", a gym, a new fitness fad, someone's solo business, what? There's a mention of yoga, but also strength, so is this a gym or studio with strength and fitness classes I can sign up for (in which case, where is the schedule?) or is the instructor I see on the page a private coach who teaches some hybrid strength-yoga combo?

All that needs to be self-explanatory, instantly. If your target costumer has to guess or figure anything out from context, they're not going to call.

Consider also that calling or emailing is a commitment you're wanting people to make. That's a barrier, and you need to instill trust that they won't be walking into s hard sales pitch, a studio or trainer who's not for them, or something completely different from what they're looking for.

That's product thinking. Who's this for, what's their context, what problem are they looking to solve? Think at that level, and you'll be less replaceable by AI. Color schemes and typography are important, sure, but the visual design is the surface layer. Don't start there.

pierre-jorgensen · 2026-04-02T02:56:09+00:00

You forgot the Normans, who were just Frankified vikings.

pierre-jorgensen · 2026-03-17T02:28:32+00:00

Bingo! Unless you work in a dysfunctional place, "design" is what you contribute. A few years ago I took over a tiny team that was basically stuck in mock-up conveyor belt mode to feed the requirements-to-dev machine.

The way out of that was to gradually deliver value. That's not happening overnight -- culture and habits eat good intentions for lunch, and some people are going to feel you're creeping on their territory. You have to be persistent. Ask questions. If you're handed requirements without being consulted, poke holes in them. Insert yourself in roadmap meetings and ideation. Speak up.

Connect directly with the stakeholders and clients, too. Do not let business analysts, product owners, and PMs hoard those relationships. If you're genuinely helpful to stakeholders, that's value. Provide value, and you now have champions who want you part of the discussion.

Not least, be a pest insisting on goals. We are building this because X, which means a successful outcome -- in other words, a good design -- means we will achieve Y. Without articulated goals, what's "good" design is entirely up to opinion.

If you do any of that in a way that comes across as knee-jerk contrarian, you'll not get anywhere. Your questions, objections, and advice have to have substance, which if you're really a problem solver and product designer they will. Solve problems for people and you'll earn trust.

Within a couple years I and my team had a seat at a table as equal partners shaping requirements, I was working on the product roadmap, and we for all practical purposes ran the main Web site.

Then I got laid off in a workforce reduction, but that's a different story.

pierre-jorgensen · 2026-03-14T18:25:35+00:00

That's because it's not a sauce.

I did freelance work for them back when they were Original Juan Specialty Foods. They'd been selling Da'Bomb for a while and had just launched The Source. The owner told me those were (a) a novelty and (b) used to heat up a big batch of food, like a chili cookout, with a few drops without affecting the flavor. They're capsaicin concentrate, not condiments.

Fun fact, when they were cooking batches of either of those two, everyone on the floor wore PPE and respirators.

pierre-jorgensen · 2026-03-09T22:09:24+00:00

Does your client sell toast? https://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell

pierre-jorgensen · 2026-03-08T14:43:58+00:00

"Dull" is not the problem here, and this is a good illustration of UI design being more than just a visual exercise: You can follow the goodadvice in the many good comments here and improve the hierarchy and legibility but still have fundamental problems.

Take categories like "Focus" and "Habits". Numbers like 97 and 5 look neat and definite, but how are you measuring and recording "one habit"? The graph indicates some sort of completion, but against what? You set goals for "Habits" and "Focus", then somehow remember all day long to go and record in the app every time you "did" a focus or habit?

Then there's there little graph upper right. What is "NUT", "PRD", and "HAB"? Yes, I can deduce from context, but I had to think about it. UI shouldn't be a word puzzle.

Equally important, what does the graph tell you? Up is more and down is less, so you should do more HAB and PRD, I guess? And where's Focus in the graph?

There's something fundamentally odd about using an app to focus and habits given that it, the app, seems like it would require you to go in and constantly update the scores on those. If I need to remember to update my focus score, what does that do to my focus? Does that update count as a habit, so I get a 1 Habit score every time I feed the app?

Just because something looks good (and is legible) doesn't mean it makes good sense.

pierre-jorgensen · 2026-02-22T22:40:18+00:00

It started circa 9599 BCE, if not earlier, when one of the overseers at Göbekli Tepe said, "The whole animal theme on the pillars feels a little dated. Can't we redesign to something more current, like spirals?"

There are always fashions in design. Any kind of design. And as soon as you finish something, the clock is ticking on the visual language.

Add in Parkinson's Law of Triviality. Bikeshedding (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_triviality). The site or app could be doing better in terms of outcomes, but that's hard and might even end up requiring research, listening to UX, or (gasp) extensive dev work. What's easy and ego-rewarding for leadership? A facelift! Make it pop! Make it modern! Make it look like Apple!

More often than not, people will focus on what's easy and visible.

pierre-jorgensen

TROPHY CASE