Disrespectful Design — Users aren’t stupid or lazy

Originally published on somehowmanage.com, I’m publishing it here for posterity. There’s also a fun comment section on HackerNews around this article.

It’s a common narrative in tech to design products with the assumption that users are stupid and lazy. I think that is both disrespectful and wrong.

The idea is rooted in a lot of research around product usability, but it has been bastardized. Thing of it as a perversion of the Don’t Make Me Think thesis.