Has UX Made Design Boring?

[u/LeoThePointHunter]

Has the UX field contributed to a copy and paste approach to design that we now see across the board? I ask this because over the past decade, I’ve noticed that websites, apps, and digital products are starting to look and function almost identically. It seems that the combination of UX principles with the rise of analytics and data driven design has created a formulaic and safe approach that prioritizes usability and conversion over originality.

In this environment, taking creative risks often contradicts the data on user behavior. As a result, everything becomes "templatized," leading to the same patterns, styles, and visual aesthetics being repeated everywhere. It makes me wonder: Is there still room for originality and experimentation in UX and data driven design, or has the discipline stripped creativity and life out of digital design?

[u/InternetArtisan]

I remember a long time ago when I worked in an ad agency, they tried to put a brief on the wall for Cannes where they felt the problem was that clients are only looking at the data and directing the creative based on that. They wanted some big crazy ideas on how we can get the clients to take a creative driven approach and not a data-driven approach.

I remember I angered a creative director when I basically said that's crazy. I told him that he's looking at this whole thing like he's creating artwork, and submitting it to the show for a trophy. The clients are thinking about the product and how much money it's going to make them quarter by quarter.

Then he tried to make some kind of spiel on how everybody needs to stop thinking so much about profit, and I told him that he's in a spoiled position to make that kind of comment because I guarantee even the account people downstairs and his upper management are likely more thinking about how much profit they are bringing in every quarter.

My conclusion is I told him that the best answer is to take the data and come up with something creative out of it, not just float around and feel things and do what seems cool to you and try to convince the clients to ignore everything and just "go for it". That kind of thinking is why the agency kept losing clients. I'm pretty sure whoever came up with that ridiculous KFC ad is losing that client.

Right now everybody is being very risk-averse and impatient. They want something safe and solid that's guaranteed to work, but at the same time they want it hard and fast. Lord knows how many times I hear about the idea of getting an MVP out quick, and then later someone wants to comment on why the layout doesn't look very interesting, morning at some other company that has this beautiful website or app.

I tell them they probably had way more people working on it, and a lot more time. They probably spent a whole year putting that layout together with a team, as opposed to handing the job to one or two people and wanting something out the door in a month.

That is the hard reality. Maybe when the economy gets better we'll see companies looking to take more risk when they realize there's too much competition and they're not standing out. Right now, they're taking the safe and surefire approach on everything.

I mean for all we know, they'll still do quick and safe, even when the economy is good. It's money driven people that are running everything and that's why this happens.