
Ask HN: Client wants a bad user interface - anona-mouse
I&#x27;m working on a medical device user interface for a client and he has drawn up the design he wants.<p>I made some gentle suggestions and they were rejected. I was a bit pissed at first and intended to fire the client. Over the weekend it occurred to me that due to the way we were introduced, he didn&#x27;t actually know that I have decades of experience making tool and device UI&#x27;s [1] and probably thinks I am the software equivalent of a carpenter - not an architect.<p><i>I want to let him know in the nicest way possible, that he can take advantage of my decades of design experience to improve his UX without actually telling him &quot;your design looks like ass&quot;. :-)  Thoughts?</i><p>The area if the screen we&#x27;re talking about is roughly 2&quot; wide x 3 high - not a lot of room. His design isn&#x27;t horrible but has some issues, namely:<p>4 different shades of blue, 5 if you count the background.<p>2 different fonts, one of which is a 7 segment display font<p>I suggested a single shade of blue, and a single font, cleaned up some stuff and made the readouts larger.<p>[1] Oscilloscope, CAD&#x2F;CAM, laser controls, etc.
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Kazooie_Bird
The statement, "I was a bit pissed at first and intended to fire the client"
reeks of entitlement.... If anything, they are the one to fire YOU if you do
not perform to their expectations. Clients pay others to complete their
products, not the designer's. They came to you to complete a task scoped
around the UI, not business guidance.

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chrisbennet
Call it entitlement or petulance; that's a fair criticism. This is first time
I've done a non-greenfield project in over decade so perhaps I'm used to
having more control. I usually create complete products or the main
technology.

The poor design probably won't kill anyone (it's a surgical device) but it
will cause a greater cognitive load than is necessary.

I have more than enough work for clients who can appreciate what I can bring
to the table. I chose the clients I want to work with.

The client didn't knowingly treat me poorly and there aren't many people who
work with this particular technology. (The last one they hired didn't know the
technology so they hired me to fix it.) I really don't want to leave the guy
in the lurch but, as an artist (metaphorically speaking), I'm not interested
in doing paint-by-numbers work.

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davelnewton
Just say what you said in italics minus the ass. Simple as that. Firing a
client because they don't want what you want... that's certainly an approach.
Same one my eight-year old tries. _shrug_

Regarding fonts/blues: impossible to know because no clue what it looks like.
In some situations clear font differentiation is critical. In some situations,
med devices need to look similar to existing devices to maintain familiarity.
In some situations, it might look like ass, but be more functional than a
pretty version.

Is that the case here? No way to tell.

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chrisbennet
I wish I could post the design but I can't for obvious reasons.

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megamindbrian2
I've had this problem so many times. I'm so sorry. Build what the want
visually, and then show them a better alternative after. Helps if you can
separate the visual from the technical so you don't have to rewrite the
backend when the front end changes.

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chrisbennet
I did just that so he could compare. I wrote "Spec" over the his design and
"My Humble Suggestion" over my design along with explanations for the changes.
Example: _" 4 different shades of blue; perhaps sub optimal for "at a glance"
comprehension."_

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cimmanom
Instead of criticisms of his design (which are liable to just make him
defensive), you may have more success providing explanations of the benefit of
yours (“different colors for the Foo and Bar widgets make it easier for the
user to find the information they’re looking for at a glance”).

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through
Research and cite the negative cognitive effects of bad design in a bona fide
psychological context. Care about the person using the application. Quite
appropriate in a medical context.

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chrisbennet
I care deeply about the user. If I cared less this wouldn't be a problem. :-)
The differences are subtle and to someone who can't "see" the issues, they are
for all intents, invisible.

It's a little like trying to tell the client that adding Corinthian style
columns to the front of Craftsman style house isn't a great idea. The client
literally can not see why that would be a bad idea.

