UI is a big "NO NO"! Stop wasting your time on Design!
Let me start by mentioning that UI is essential.
But it depends when!
When we are trying to build an MVP, we need to focus on one thing only :
Are we solving any problem?
🤦Mistake number one - Don't look twice
Before three months, I have started working on Landified. I had a vision, and I start coding right away.
After some time, I start working on the design, and I looked for inspiration on Dribbble.
I found something I liked and started designing my Website accordingly.
Unfortunately, I made a stupid mistake. I went back to dribbble.
Never go back to Dribbble.
There is always a better design. But it just doesn't matter!
Because what matter is if you are solving a problem for someone and if someone is willing to pay for the solution. Everything else simply doesn't matter.
Conclusion - Don't change the design. Stick to the one you chose at the beginning.
🤦Mistake number two - Build a reusable Landing page.
Let's face it. That probably not going to be your last Product. That is not going to be your big success. Try to build a reusable Landing page for your Product.
There is no reason to rebuild each time a new Landing page.
Conclusion - Have a folder on your PC/Mac/Cloud with your Landing page template.
🤦Mistake number three - Design all the features.
I will explain - When we are building an MVP, we need to focus only on the crucial features. However, sometimes we are making a mistake and adding some unnecessary features. These features require design, as well. You already made a mistake by building those features. Please don't double the mistake by spending time designing those features. Just keep them plain and simple and see how many users are using them. If there is significant demand - add a beautiful design.
Conclusion - You already made a mistake by adding unnecessary features, Don't style them
🤦Mistake number Four - Start designing right away.
You can't imagine how much time a pencil and paper can save you.
By drawing your Website/App, you will understand better all the Components and You will save lots of time.
Conclusion - Pencil first only then Designing and Coding
How do you save time when building an MVP?
Naveh
I love using products that look and work perfectly. I love seeing well crafted elements that make me say "wow".
I am starting to hate all the MVP stuff and the unfinished product feel when I use something. Respect your users, don't put shit in front of them and expect them to be happy and willing to give you money just because they don't have any alternative.
Of course, you shouldn't spend time polishing something that will be changed in a few weeks, but don't expect your customers to treat it as a polished and valuable product.
UI/UX should be as good as possible, unless you need a just prototype or want to test ONLY the functionality. I think having a vertical slice is alot better than an MVP.
It's like saying you can make an MVP for a game like GTA 5 or God of War. It's not about one thing done well, it's about ALL things being done close to perfection.
Say what you want, but people will always judge a book by its covers.
This was actually a massive plus for us when my co-founder and I launched ServerAuth.com. Both the website and the app were very much "thrown together".
The website was a simple one-page landing page and the app was about 3 pages with all functionality thrown into those three screens. It wasn't pretty and involved the customers scrolling quite a lot to use it but it allowed us to get an MVP out the door.
Almost a year later, with a lot of people on our free plan and our first paying customer, we've only recently (last 2 weeks) released an update to refresh the UI of our app. Even then we only did it as some features we wanted to add were going to be impractical with the current UI we had.
Doing it this way definitely saved us a lot of headaches. With a previous product we tried, we spent so long trying to perfect the UI and the design of the site and the app that we forgot to focus on marketing and basically had no one but spam bots sign up!
Thanks Mike for sharing!
It's very important to understand that "Early adapters" simply don't care about UI.
In my opinion, in MVP stage you need to reach for balance. If you cut too many corners you will end up with a bad product.
Skipping design is not a solution. Put some time and create a base of the design system. So then you will sit to work on the design you will have a consistent design throughout the app.
Do you have some examples of do's and don'ts? I guess I'm more visual.
The User Interface is very important, but as with any other aspect of your product you shouldn't overthinking it.
But the same goes with any other functionality. SMS notifications? Maybe not for the MVP. Different ways of paying? Wait for the second iteration.
I think you're referring to the visual decorations (you mention illustrations and whatnot) that's not the user interface which I think is indeed very important.
Think ahead, create a product where the lack of UI and copious design is a feature. I did that with Bear Blog. It took me about 3-4 days to create, and had about 1000 signups on launch day.
Here's some motivation: https://herman.bearblog.dev/motherfucking-blog/
I'm very curious what you (and others here) think of the very minimal design for TricepMail.com (and the app which is at TricepMail.app).
I just released the MVP yesterday, and I'm starting to think if I spent a bit more time on the design to make it look more appealing (more like every other app out there) instead of focusing purely on functionality, I'd be getting more views. So far, only a small handful have even bothered to even look at it.
I personally prefer very minimal design (the way TricepMail currently is), but I can understand how most other people would enjoy something fancier.
EDIT: Oh wow I just noticed this post is 5 months old! IH recommended it to me below another post and I assumed it was recent. Whoops!
Great advice. I am so productive when working on Portabella, more so than at any job I've had in the past, mainly because I know the whole codebase.
But the one thing that bogs me down is design, it's so hard to get right. Every time I look at other products I'm amazed at how nice they are, but can't seem to nail it for myself.
You should have a look on Dribbble.com
And just try to copy some of the design over there.
I'm sure you will be able to create something nice
Later on, you can hire a designer =)
Great idea, just had a peak over there and it looks like I could 1. get a lot of inspiration 2. waste a lot of time flip flopping on designs
As I said, pick one and stick to it!
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100% agree. UI in the vast majority of cases is more important than actual functionality.
Of course reaching a balance is ideal. But when time is limited, spending more time building a good UI with proper UX considerations is much better than adding more features.
I'm sorry. But I do not agree.
Ui simply doesn't matter.
There are different type of users and when you're growing you should "fix" the design. But early adopters don't care about the UI
You can verify it by simply check product hunt.
One more thing - Do you really think that by adding an Amazing Illustration to your website it will bring clients?
I think it won't.
I think you should devote your time to build a great video about the product. Dropbox got thousands of users from a Video.
Also, check AirBnb first landing page. You will be shocked
"Don't spend time on design" doesn't mean you need to ignore padding, margin, fonts and marketing content. It means that to have curvy waves or 3D illustrations on your hero section - it doesn't matter.
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Sometimes I wish there was a
poor adviceflag on IH. Evenmisleadingorclick baitwould help.Agreed on this feature @levidxyz! I would also love to have an MRR display right next to the post 🤦♂️. I see way too much advice from folks who are making $0-$200/month. Have to take that with a grain of salt.
Did you write it about the post or the comment?
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Oops it was about the post. I can tell the intention is good but it’s reductive and potentially harmful to certain product types.
Ok. Thanks for your feedback.
I believe in the lean startup method.
In the end of the day I’m pretty sure we both think the same but I probably did wrote the post good enough.
Anyway I still find most of the content I wrote useful for most products.
I agree it's likely useful for a lot of products but certainly nowhere near all products. If your title and content hadn't been speaking in absolutes and hadn't been sensationalized I may have not bothered saying anything. I do appreciate you sharing your experience though of course.
Haha you almost got more than the post itself.
I guess I could have written it better.
But I still standing behind it.
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