
Can You Outsource Product UX / UI Design Successfully? - rgrieselhuber
http://ginzametrics.com/can-you-outsource-ux.html
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sambeau
Let me be the first to totally disagree with this article.

The world is full of great outsourced design: websites, adverts, car designs,
buildings, bridges, spacecraft. You name it.

UX is not something magical. It is just another application of design. A good
designer will have no difficulty getting into the head of both client and
user. That is their passion.

~~~
kingsidharth
The person whom you outsource to is usually not involved in core discussion of
development of idea, app or such. And these are actual defining moments of UI
and UX, as a designer - that's where I find my _inspiration_ (read: soultion
to problems).

Outsourcing how your app interacts with user is not going to work at all, all
that is gonna happen is one will keep telling designer to move _half a pixel_
he will swear under breath, and in name of _complete the project and get paid_
he will move it. That is not at all how UX and UI work.

These are core elements, need to be done by someone deeply involved in team.
Hire a designer - get them into all the discussions. Design doesn't happen
sitting in corner - design happens in football ground.

~~~
ThomPete
This is simply not true from my experience.

One of the very reasons why I love doing startups is that I get to influence
the very early stages of the product but tactically and strategically.

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justinph
This argument can cut both ways. If I'm a designer, and I can make a kick-ass
interface, but aren't so great on the programming skills, can I, or can I not
hire a programmer to make work?

My sense is the HN crowd would be aghast at such a notion, but I don't see
that much of a difference. A good product is about vision, and a design nerd
or code nerd can have it, and that doesn't demean or diminish the value of the
other.

------
danilocampos
Tony Hsieh has fascinating discussion on outsourcing in Delivering Happiness.
They could have outsourced two big parts of their business:

\- Their telephone support

\- Their fulfillment center

These are both things that, typically, are very expensive to run. The
temptation to outsource is huge. The trouble is, these are also two of the
most crucial interaction points for customers. So if they don't work
correctly, the business will suffer.

What Zappos discovered was that by outsourcing, they ceded a lot of control
and insight into their business to other parties who didn't really give a damn
whether Zappos succeeded or not. Outsourcing fulfillment almost destroyed them
because aligning incentives and priorities with outside parties is so very
difficult.

When they returned to doing fulfillment themselves, they figured out a bunch
of ways they could not only do it well, they could do it in a way that was so
surprisingly good that people were blown away and told all their friends.

Similarly, by maintaining control over their phone support, they could make
sure everyone answered the phone in a way that took care of each customer
thoroughly. No operators hurrying people off the lines to keep their scores
up, reasonable autonomy to make people happy. As a Zappos employee, immersed
in the day to day of Zappos' business, they reflected the internal culture to
everyone they talked to. This would be hard to do through an outsourced firm.

So can you outsource UX? Even software development? Sure. Maybe at first. But
eventually, your company is going to need to have an internal understanding of
these things. If your success is tied to UX but it's nowhere in the heads of
your people or in your company's DNA, eventually you're going to lose out on
opportunities that come to you only when people are invested exclusively in
your success.

Eventually you're going to have the crap beat out of you by a company in
another city made out of two guys who really know UX _and_ code and iterate
all night and all weekend because they don't have to haggle with anyone to
reach perfection.

------
michaelpinto
As a designer I can tell you that the two key questions you need to ask
yourself are:

1\. Is the product UX/UI design an essential core your product? i.e. Are you
willing to listen to the designer if they have suggestions that may change the
core of your product.

2\. If so do you have the budget and long term prospects to hire someone full
time? If you don't are you willing to give the designer shares in your company
or a percentage of the profits?

Most geeks assume that the two core founders of a business should be a coder
and a biz person — I disagree with that assumption: To me a product starts
with good design, and without that code and biz doesn't mean anything.

~~~
shrikanthr
While i totally agree with the approach you suggest towards making UX Design
Route choices, the priority of usability design shouldn't be as high as core-
architectural design, simply because driving you're application from usability
towards functionality can never be a sustainable solution to the design of any
product. For instance, no operating system can ever be designed with its user
interaction in mind. While it does have a critical impact in OS design, there
are far more critical issues that UI has no say over! That being said, it
largely depends upon the impact of Usability on your product's overall
outcome. Correct me if i'm wrong!

------
jaredjared
yeah, i really disagree with this article. although i've had good and bad
experiences outsourcing all aspects of design here's the real trick in my
experience: a totally amazing UX person is a rare bird. if you're doing a
startup, the likelihood that you can entice them to leave their clients behind
and come work for you full time is unreasonable for you and them. hiring them
on a contract basis to do the work gets you first class work and allows you to
build a long term deep relationship with them. if they love the product, maybe
you can hire them later. the other thing is you don't need a UX person full
time. you need a UX person to manage someone doing your wireframes and then
manage a designer to make them look cool. frankly, i don't see any way around
outsourcing UX for a startup. your and their risk is too high to join forces.
you'd waste their time. they'd waste your money.

------
peteforde
The sad thing about this post is that I think he's actually serious. That
might sound harsh and defensive, but from my perspective (principal of a firm
that exists to help clients design amazing products) his perspective belies a
local maxima.

In other words, he just hasn't worked with a great team to get something off
the ground. There's any number of reasons for that: perhaps he's not a good
personality fit (a UX team has to be highly opinionated to be effective) or
maybe he just hasn't been introduced to the right fit and doesn't realize that
Mrs. Right is out there for him.

That said, bringing in an external group isn't the right fit for everything. I
agree with Tony Hsieh that outsourcing their fulfillment and tech support
would have been a disaster.

But it's equally crazy for Brian Eno to learn Objective-C to release Bloom,
don't you think?

~~~
rgrieselhuber
It was an honest question; I don't really see how it is "sad."

I made it clear that I was writing from my own experience and would like to
hear about cases where it really worked for other startups.

As far as I can see on this thread, nobody offered up any specific examples.
I'm sure they occur all the time, what I'd like to learn is how startups can
make it work.

------
theDoug
Saving you a click, he doesn't believe so but wishes for startups that have
done so to get in touch.

------
ThomPete
Warning: Biased comment.

Warning2: Really bad grammar sorry. Am fixing it right now.

I am co-founder of a design agency and have helped countless startups
designing their websites and products. I often meet startups that have been
burned hiring a design agency and I have myself probably burned or been burned
by startups. It's never a clear case so I will simply say this. As with
everything else. Nothing and no one is perfect despite best intentions.
Startups can be tricky because the goals are often unclear and the clients
often unexperienced.

Luckily the good experiences beats the bad experience by miles and I still
love doing startups despite my agency primarily have large established
customers now.

These are a few basic principles for making sure you get most buck for the
money.

1\. Figure out what your needs are.

With this I mean figure out how important design is to whatever you are
launching. Many startups put too much time, money and effort into making their
website perfect, too early, only to find out 3 months later that they need to
pivot or change their communication completely.

Design is there to help you optimize your goals (launch product site, design
service etc.), not solve them.

There are generally 3 situations where it's important to spend time and money
on a good design agency or designer.

 _a.If you have developed a technology that is complex in nature and needs to
be productized and communicated clearly.

b.If your design is going to be a differentiator to the rest of the market.
I.e. in markets where there are many competitors but few of them (or most of
them) have spent time on making their design really stand out. For an example
of such a market see the time-registration market which is huge and diverse.

c.If you have a clear vision about your product and know you won't be changing
that vision anytime soon._

It's rare but it does happen. But just as with b. you need to be clear about
how you want design to help you. I.e. create principles. You might want to
read [http://000fff.org/beyond-aesthetics-design-tips-for-
startups...](http://000fff.org/beyond-aesthetics-design-tips-for-startups/)
for what I mean with that.

2\. Always get a portfolio and have them explain what parts they did.

You will be surprised how many times designers show some work they have been
involved in but not necessarily done everything themselves. It's fair enough
to do that, but you should just make sure that you figure out whether you are
appreciating the right things from the right designer.

3\. Hire them in phases.

Instead of getting one price on the entire project, hire them one phase at a
time (UX, Visual Design, Front-end programming, development). This will
benefit both of you.

You will figure out if you are a good match without having betted your entire
budget in one basket and they won't be stuck with a client they hate. It will
also give them something to work for (next phase) which means they will often
put more effort into the first phase (again a benefit to both of you).

4\. Pay them 25% upfront

This might sound weird but since you are a startup they are running a big risk
taking the job. I know many stories (and have experienced them myself once in
a while) about companies getting a lot of work done without having the money.
So to get that insecurity out of the way do this.

Many agencies will ask for it anyway (some even more) because they have burned
their fingers too many times. There is a huge advantage to doing this by
paying 25% upfront you are putting the pressure on them to work those hours as
quickly as possible. It also removes any argument internally in the agency
about whether they should put their best people on you or prioritize bigger
clients.

5\. Always make it a goal to get an internal designer.

Whether you have hired an agency or a team of freelancers work on getting your
own people. Outsourcing means paying for their time. This is beneficial if you
are trying to get started and don't have the capital or is in a position to
hire your own people. But once the main project is over you will be better off
having someone in your own stable rather than having to pay for an agencies
time. The second you start having ad hoc assignments or changes which where
not part of the agreement etc., the agencies will down prioritize you since
you aren't bringing in the big bucks anymore. You will loose most advantages
with regards to their pricing structure. As an alternative this might be where
you outsource to China or India as they majority of conceptual work have now
been done and your tasks are less complex.

If you can afford it get a copywriter. That is unless you are a savvy writer
yourself. You will benefit greatly from getting a good copywriter to help you
communicate your product as clearly as possible. Good copywriting is half of
the design experience, this is why advertising agencies often have teams with
one art director and one copywriter on each.

------
supervillain
UX is something people feel, a UX/UI designer have to put on end-user's shoes
and be emotionally attached to it, as an artist and as a human-being.

You can copy their work but it's hard to copy their genuine motivation,
inspiration and emotions, the real brains behind the design.

UX people cultivate their inspiration through art, social interactions,
sciences, relationships, love, passion, nature, architecture, etc. because
they invest heavily on their emotions, their inspiration to design a good
UX/UI.

------
toddwahnish
I can only talk from personal experience- I've never seen a founder that's
been completely happy with outsourced UX/ UI. In the end, it's really tied to
the type of site that you're developing. If the design is integral to the
experience (like a music or design site for example), then don't outsource. If
the design is purely tied to the data and the way the data is arranged for
consumption, then maybe.

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kenjackson
I think you can outsource UI design, but not the UX (if you're a web company).

If you're a company whose value isn't in the website, e.g., a daycare, then I
think you can often simply steal the UX from others who have done it in your
industry and done a good job.

~~~
kingsidharth
Author said that you can outsource your website, and if web is not your domain
- you don't even need to think about UX.

~~~
kenjackson
You always have to think about UX. Just because the web isn't your domain
doesn't mean its not important. I'm sure we've all been to websites that look
dated and are poorly written, which turned you off from the company.

My point though is subtler, which is that if your value isn't in the web then
you merely need to be competitive on the web, and in most of these cases an
outsourced UI/UX will be superior than many of your competitors.

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willifred
I love the line, 'you can't commoditize good design.' I just want to read it
over and over.

Design has been so further commoditized in recent years, it's a wonderful
reminder that design is much more than application of style.

~~~
nhangen
I don't think outsourcing it = commoditizing it.

Perhaps you don't have time, or it's not a strong suit.

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philthy
Outsourcing is for inefficient cost cutters, almost any task can be completed
domestically or even locally. People outsourcing jobs is one reason a lot of
people don't have jobs. Sure some tasks may cost more to stay local, but
doesn't it just seem right to insource?

Quality isn't necessarily a factor, but let me suggest one comparison
Myyearbook.com outsourced almost their entire business while Facebook.com
outsourced a few jobs at the onset, see the difference?

~~~
BRadmin
By outsourcing he merely means delegating work to someone who is not an
employee of the company - or rather, "to a freelance designer or firm." The OP
makes no distiction between or contention for or against local, domestic or
international workforces.

