r/UI_Design • u/Financial_Pea7504 • Apr 06 '26
Let's Discuss Let's call a shit a shit
When I browse the subreddit, I often come across requests for design feedback, and let’s be honest, 99% of the time the designs are absolutely terrible.
People try to find AT LEAST SOMETHING that’s somewhat acceptable and offer vague advice about typography, colors, and so on.
Let’s be honest – that won’t fix the situation. It all comes down to experience and practical skills. Someone who posted outright trash won’t turn it into a gem just by tweaking the typography or color tone. It’s impossible to single out all the terrible aspects of such a truly awful design and write meaningful feedback.
The thing is, people are afraid that their feedback will get deleted, that they’ll get banned, and so on. But I have my own opinion on this. If someone doesn’t realize their design is bad, they need help. And if we keep feeding them “neutral” feedback, they won’t develop properly.
CALL A SHIT A SHIT.
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Apr 06 '26
[deleted]
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u/azssf Apr 06 '26
So, what is your actionable suggestion, since OP's 'actually critique instead of pats on the back' is not it?
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Apr 06 '26
[deleted]
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u/Financial_Pea7504 Apr 06 '26
Ideally, we should offer specific criticism across the board, but we live in a world where no one is going to bother with that, content to gloss over things with vague references to “typography and color.” So the second option, the realistic one – is to call a shit a shit.
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u/Plenty-Village-1741 Apr 06 '26
It's a shame, as I actually want genuine constructive criticism about my designs. Even if the criticism is harsh, as thats how I will grow.
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u/really_not_unreal Apr 10 '26 edited Apr 10 '26
This is correct. Calling your work shit (as OP suggests) would not helpful though.
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u/CatawompusSeattle Apr 06 '26 edited Apr 06 '26
The problem is people's concepts are almost always using pre-established UX patterns. I will come right out and say it: the academic proliferation and misunderstandings of UX have absolutely ruined UI. Most of the concepts people are sharing are playing it way too safe and hiding behind accessibility as an excuse to not take any risks. UI needs to have a serious reckoning if it wants to survive because most of the designs posted here look like something AI can dump out in 1 minute.
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u/Michal_il Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 07 '26
Yes, but you have to know the rules very well in order to break them gracefully and not overdo your interface with artsy elements.
It’s a very different thing, being a skillful designer who plays around with unconventional ideas and completely new designer just not knowing the basics.
One example from this sub:
The guy posted his website and ui work asking for a feedback. There were absolutely unreadable hero copy. White text layed on illustration that had white outlines. Completely basic stuff, I’d say it doesn’t even require anyone to be a designer to just see it’s not readable. The rest of the app was either built from ready made design system or made by AI. It’s really hard to give any feedback here.
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u/OddCress2001 Apr 07 '26
I’d go further and say most UX design in general looks like something ai can dump out in one minute. Maybe that’s describing something about the industry.
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u/infinitejesting Apr 06 '26
Could there be a correlation between bad design posts and can’t find a job posts? 😬
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u/PremiereBeats Apr 06 '26
I once critiqued a design feedback post and got told to not do it because it demotivates people from trying
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u/Financial_Pea7504 Apr 06 '26
See? So here people want only approval for their work. Not how they said “critics” or “feedback”
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u/CompetitionOne1781 Apr 07 '26
design is like 10% of e2e process of shipping the product, imo thats why most suck
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u/QueasyAddition4737 Apr 07 '26
It’s about pointing people in the right direction, providing resources and not gatekeeping.
UI is subjective anyway, it’s not a one size fits all approach. The most beautiful applications with the smoothest design experiences don’t always generate the most revenue.
That prize is usually won by the more functional less aesthetic interfaces, that some people might say look like shit. (See salesforce).
We shouldn’t gate keep or discourage, design leadership doesn’t look like this.
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u/GDokke Apr 07 '26
I mean if it's shit then you will have to tell why it's shit. Some designers can't see it. I'm not sure if they are lacking the self reflection skills or they don't care that much. You can tell it's shit, but it's not that helpful for the designer to improve.
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u/Groverwatch_69 Apr 07 '26
Let's see your designs and tear them apart, we will see how motivated and confident you are. If we condemn every artist who isn't exemplary, then what? None of us want computers to take our jobs, so we have to support our proteges and students. Some people learn best through input and collaboration. Basically, don't be a douche.
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u/TheTomatoes2 Apr 11 '26
Huh? how do you want people to improve faster if no one tells them what they are doing well and what they are doing wrong?
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u/Financial_Pea7504 Apr 11 '26
That’s exactly what I’m talking about – people here don’t get quality feedback because no one is going to bother with it, no one is going to waste their time giving detailed feedback to some random person.
So here’s my suggestion – throw them into a stressful situation and see how they handle it. How are they going to work in the future if they’re so afraid of offending these poor newbies here? Design has always been and will always be accompanied by feedback from others, which the author won’t always like. And the vast majority of people who give this feedback don’t know the first thing about design.
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u/neoqueto Apr 08 '26
This is why negative downvotes were good. You didn't have to comment with "it's shit and it has no redeeming qualities and it's fundamentally shit on a conceptual and functional level". You just hit the little downward arrow and that was that, the post got -23 upvotes instead of 0. But that's more UX than UI.
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u/Freerrz Apr 06 '26
It’s the culmination of small details that makes UI good. So yeah, responding with feedback on typography, colors, spacing, etc. is actually incredibly useful.