UX Mythbusters: 9 Lies We Tell Ourselves as Designers

Unmasking the Truth Behind Design Dogma

👋 Hey there, fellow design enthusiasts!

Welcome to the design dojo, where we roundhouse-kick outdated ideas and karate-chop misconceptions about user experience. Whether you’re a fresh-faced junior just figuring out the difference between UX and UI, or a battle-hardened design lead who’s run more usability tests than you can count, chances are you’ve bumped into a few myths masquerading as best practices. And let’s be honest—sometimes, we even pass them on without realizing it. Yikes.

Ever felt like you've heard a UX "truth" so many times it's practically gospel, only to realize it might be… well, a bit of a myth? As UX designers, we're constantly learning, evolving, and sometimes, unlearning. The field is dynamic, and what was once best practice might now be a relic, or perhaps, was never entirely true to begin with. The landscape of user experience is ever-shifting, shaped by new technologies, changing user behaviors, and deeper psychological insights. Keeping old beliefs can stop us from creating truly meaningful and enjoyable experiences. This can lead to frustrating interfaces, missed opportunities, and products that don't connect with their audience.

Today, we're grabbing our magnifying glasses and putting on our detective hats to bust some of the most stubborn UX myths out there. We are calling BS on some of the most stubborn UX myths that refuse to die—despite the evidence, logic, and the collective eye-roll of the design community. So, think of this as your toolkit to break myths. It has funny ideas, surprising facts, real-world examples, and interactive challenges to help you improve your critical UX eye. Get ready to challenge your assumptions, embrace the nuance, and maybe even have a chuckle or two.

Our goal isn't just to debunk, but to empower you with a more informed, evidence-based approach to your craft. Let's dive in and shine a light on what truly works! Ready to challenge everything you think you know about UX? Let’s go.

Myth #1: "Users Don't Scroll"

The Myth If it’s not above the fold, it might as well not exist.

Reality Check Users scroll—especially on mobile. In fact, research by the Nielsen Norman Group and other usability studies show that users do scroll when the content is compelling, intuitive, and clearly structured. They’re just not going to do it blindly. Think of the fold as an invitation, not a hard stop. Design to encourage discovery, not to cram everything into the first 600 pixels.

Extra Insight Eye-tracking studies show that visual cues like arrows, animation, gradients, and strategic whitespace can significantly improve scroll rates. So if users aren’t scrolling your site, the problem isn’t with them—it’s your design. Give them a reason to go deeper. Make the page breathe. Make it curious. Make it irresistible.

Myth-Busting Challenge Open up one of your favorite apps or websites and notice where you naturally scroll. What kept you going? What stopped you in your tracks? Was it visual curiosity, frictionless reading, or a great hook? Now ask yourself: what would you improve to help a first-time user scroll confidently and purposefully?

Myth #2: "UX = UI"

The Myth Good visuals = good UX.

Reality Check UX is the full journey. UI is just the paint on the walls. A gorgeous interface that’s hard to use is like a luxury sports car with no steering wheel. It may look like it belongs in a showroom, but it won’t get anyone where they need to go. Form follows function—not the other way around.

Fun Fact UX design spans everything from stakeholder interviews to prototyping, usability testing, accessibility audits, service design, journey mapping, and even customer support. It’s the architecture, plumbing, HVAC system, lighting, and yes—the wallpaper. UI is the smile. UX is the brain, heart, and soul.

Analogy Time UI is like a movie poster. UX is the entire cinematic experience: script, pacing, lighting, editing, and how you felt when the credits rolled.

Myth-Busting Challenge List the last three tasks you did on an app. Was the UI actually helping you, or just looking good while slowing you down? Could you still complete the task if the design were stripped back to wireframes?

Myth #3: Users Read Every Word on Your Page

The Myth "Just put all the information out there. Users will read it if they need it."

The Reality Check Oh, if only! In a world of infinite scrolling, constant notifications, and dwindling attention spans, users don't read your content; they scan it. They're on a mission, often looking for specific information, a quick path to their goal, or simply trying to ascertain if your page is even relevant to their immediate needs. Think of it less like settling down with a gripping novel and more like a frantic treasure hunt with a ticking clock. Users are busy, goal-oriented, and ruthlessly efficient with their time. They're not looking for a comprehensive education on your product; they're looking for solutions to their immediate problems. Jakob Nielsen's research on web usability has shown many times that users spend very little time on each page. They often process information in non-linear patterns like the F-pattern or Z-pattern. Dense, unformatted text is a major culprit for cognitive overload, leading to frustration, abandonment, and ultimately, a failed user experience. It's like trying to drink from a firehose – most of it goes to waste.

The Evidence

• Eye-tracking studies Consistently show users' eyes moving across pages in predictable scanning patterns. The F-pattern is particularly common on text-heavy pages, where users read the first few lines, then scan down the left side of the page, looking for keywords or headings. This means the first two paragraphs and the left-hand side of your content are prime real estate. The Z-pattern often emerges on more visual pages or landing pages, where users scan from top-left to top-right (the header), then diagonally down to bottom-left, and finally across to bottom-right (the call to action). These patterns clearly indicate scanning, not thorough reading, and highlight the importance of visual hierarchy and strategic placement of key information.
  

• Cognitive load theory This psychological principle explains that our working memory has limited capacity. Too much information presented at once overwhelms this capacity, making it harder for users to process, understand, and retain information. When a page is full of text, users can't find important information. This makes them tired, makes more mistakes (because they miss important details), and leaves the page to find a simpler solution. Our brains naturally seek patterns and shortcuts; dense text offers neither.
  

• Conversion rates Data consistently supports the idea that concise, scannable content performs better. Websites and applications that prioritize clear, digestible information, using strong visual hierarchy, chunking techniques, and compelling calls to action, often see higher engagement, lower bounce rates, and improved conversion rates. This is because users can quickly find what they need, understand the value proposition, and complete their tasks with minimal effort. Every unnecessary word is a potential barrier to conversion.
  

• Mobile-first design The proliferation of mobile devices further emphasizes the need for conciseness. Smaller screens simply don't accommodate lengthy paragraphs well, forcing designers to be even more deliberate about information presentation. What might be scannable on a large desktop monitor becomes an endless scroll on a smartphone, leading to frustration and disengagement.
  

• The "inverted pyramid" writing style This is a journalistic rule. It says that the most important information should be shown first, followed by details that support it in a decreasing order of importance. This ensures that even if a user only reads the first paragraph, they still get the core message.

💡 Myth-Busting Challenge Pick a text-heavy page you've designed (or one you admire). Can you reduce the word count by 30% without losing crucial information? Use clear, detailed headings and subheadings that help you find what you need. Use bullet points and numbered lists to break up information, bold words and phrases to make it stand out, and keep paragraphs short and focused on one idea. Consider implementing the "inverted pyramid" style of writing, where the most important information comes first. See how much clearer, more inviting, and ultimately, more effective it becomes! Your users (and their limited attention spans) will thank you.

Myth #4: "Users Know What They Want"

The Myth Just ask users what they want, and build on that.

Reality Check Users are notoriously unreliable narrators. They often describe symptoms, not root problems. It’s up to us, the UX detectives, to investigate deeper. We’re not just taking orders—we’re uncovering insights, motivations, and barriers. Think less short-order cook, more user psychologist.

Hot Tip Instead of asking, "What do you want?" Try,

"Tell me about the last time you tried to [do the task]."

This invites storytelling and reveals context, emotion, and unmet needs. You’ll learn more from a 10-minute story than from a 20-question survey.

Quote to Drop in a Meeting “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” – Not actually Henry Ford, but still a banger.

Myth-Busting Challenge Interview someone about a recent tech annoyance—an app that frustrated them, a site they abandoned. Dig until you find a root cause they hadn’t even noticed. Then brainstorm how you’d redesign the experience based on what they actually needed, not just what they thought they wanted.

Myth #5: All Users Are the Same / Design for Everyone

The Myth "If it works for me, it works for everyone. Just design for the 'average' user."

The Reality Check The "average" user is a statistical construct, a convenient but ultimately misleading fiction! Our users are incredibly diverse, coming from different backgrounds, with varying levels of tech literacy, different goals, contexts, and abilities. They might be using different devices (desktop, tablet, mobile, smart home), in different environments (noisy cafe vs. quiet office, bright sunlight vs. dim room), with different emotional states (stressed vs. relaxed, hurried vs. leisurely).

Designing for an imaginary "everyone" often means designing effectively for no one, as you end up with a generic, watered-down solution that doesn't truly meet anyone's specific needs in a meaningful way. This is why thorough user research, creating detailed personas, and focusing on accessibility considerations are very important to modern UX design. We design for specific user needs and behaviors. We know that a solution for one group might not be good for another. But careful, inclusive design can often fix these problems and make a product that everyone can use.

The Evidence

• User Research and Personas The entire discipline of UX research is built on understanding user diversity. Techniques like interviews, surveys, usability testing, ethnographic studies, and contextual inquiries reveal the vast spectrum of user behaviors, motivations, pain points, and mental models. Personas are a direct result of this research. They help us understand specific user groups by making simple pictures of our target users, including their goals, problems, places, and even personality traits. This moves us away from abstract averages to concrete, relatable individuals.
  

• Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) These internationally recognized guidelines (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) exist precisely because users have diverse needs related to visual (e.g., color blindness, low vision, blindness), auditory (e.g., hearing impairment), motor (e.g., tremors, limited dexterity), and cognitive (e.g., dyslexia, ADHD) impairments. Designing for accessibility isn't an afterthought or a "nice-to-have"; it's a fundamental aspect of inclusive design that ensures your product is usable by the widest possible audience. Ignoring accessibility not only excludes a significant portion of the population but can also lead to legal repercussions and reputational damage.
  

• Situational Disabilities Beyond permanent impairments, users can experience temporary or situational disabilities that impact their interaction with a product. For example, someone holding a baby has a temporary motor impairment (one hand occupied); someone in a noisy environment has a situational auditory impairment; someone using a device in bright sunlight has a temporary visual impairment; or someone driving has a cognitive load that limits their attention. Designing for these scenarios often benefits everyone, leading to more robust and flexible interfaces.
  

• Cultural Differences Design conventions, color meanings, iconography, reading directions (left-to-right vs. right-to-left), and even preferred interaction patterns vary significantly across cultures. A design that is intuitive and appealing in one culture might be confusing, inefficient, or even offensive in another. Global products require careful consideration of cultural nuances and localization strategies.
  

• Technological Context Users access products on a myriad of devices with varying screen sizes, input methods (touch, mouse, keyboard, voice), and network speeds. A design optimized for a high-speed desktop connection might be unusable on a slow mobile network. Responsive design and performance optimization are crucial acknowledgments of this diversity.
  

• User Goals and Context Even within the same product, different users might have vastly different goals. A new user might be focused on onboarding, while a power user seeks efficiency and advanced features. A user in an emergency might need quick access to critical information, while another is browsing leisurely. Understanding these varying contexts is key to providing relevant experiences.

💡 Myth-Busting Challenge Think about a product you're currently working on. Beyond your primary persona, consider one "edge case" user. This could be someone with limited motor skills, someone in a noisy environment; a very young user, an elderly user, a non-native speaker, or someone with a very slow internet connection. How might their experience differ from your "average" user experience? What small design change or feature could greatly improve the experience for that user, and how might that improvement help a wider audience? For instance, larger tap targets for motor-impaired users benefit everyone on a touch screen.

Myth #6: "More Features = Better Product"

The Myth Cram it all in. Users want options.

Reality Check Feature bloat is the silent killer of usability. More features lead to more complexity, which leads to more cognitive load and ultimately user frustration. Users don’t want more—they want better. Simpler. More intuitive. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.

Success Story Remember Instagram’s early days? Just photo sharing with filters. Simple, sticky, delightful. Now compare that to bloated apps that tried to do too much too soon—RIP to those buried in the App Store graveyard.

Pro Tip Prioritize ruthlessly. Kill your darlings. If it doesn’t serve a clear user need or goal, cut it. Use frameworks like MoSCoW or the Kano Model to help make data-driven decisions.

Myth-Busting Challenge Take one of your current projects and identify one feature you could cut without harming the core user experience. Now test it: prototype a version with and without the feature and run a quick usability test. What did you learn?

Myth #7: More Choices Are Always Better

The Myth Give users all the options! They'll appreciate the flexibility and control, and it ensures everyone finds what they need."

The Reality Check While choice can indeed be empowering and give users a sense of control, an abundance of choice often leads to the infamous "paradox of choice." When presented with too many options, users experience decision fatigue, anxiety, and sometimes, paralysis – choosing nothing at all. Imagine walking into a supermarket aisle with 50 different brands of toothpaste, or trying to pick a movie from an overwhelming streaming library with no clear categories.

What should be a simple purchase or selection becomes an overwhelming ordeal. Our job as designers isn't just to present options, but to guide users, curate choices, and present them in manageable, digestible chunks that reduce cognitive load and facilitate confident decision-making. More options don't always equate to more satisfaction; often, they lead to less.

The Evidence

• The Paradox of Choice (Barry Schwartz) Psychologist Barry Schwartz's seminal work, "The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less," highlights how an excessive number of choices, while seemingly beneficial, can lead to decreased satisfaction, increased regret, and even clinical depression in extreme cases. He argues that while people desire choice, they thrive with just enough choice, not an overwhelming amount. The effort of evaluating too many options often outweighs the perceived benefit of having them.
  

• Hick's Law This psychological principle states that the time it takes for a user to make a decision increases logarithmically with the number of choices presented. More options mean more work to think about each one. This slows down the interaction, makes it more likely that users will make mistakes (as they rush or get confused), and ultimately leads to people leaving. Think about a complex dropdown menu versus a few clearly defined buttons.
  

• Cognitive Load Every additional option adds to the user's cognitive load – the mental effort required to process information. When users are forced to evaluate too many alternatives, their working memory becomes strained, making it harder to make a confident decision. This can lead to users feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, and ultimately giving up on their task. Simplicity often leads to clarity and efficiency.
  

• Post-Decision Regret When faced with too many choices, users are more likely to experience "buyer's remorse" or regret their decision, even if it was a good one. They might constantly wonder if they picked the best option from the vast array, leading to lower satisfaction with their final choice. This "what if" scenario is a direct consequence of excessive options.
  

• Analysis Paralysis This is a common outcome of the paradox of choice, where the sheer volume of options makes it impossible to make a decision, leading to inaction. Users might spend too much time deliberating or simply abandon the task altogether.

Strategies for Managing Choice

• Progressive Disclosure This powerful method shows only the most important choices first. It only shows more advanced or less common choices when the user asks for them or needs them. This keeps the initial interface clean and focused, reducing the initial cognitive load. Examples include "Show more" buttons, expandable sections, or advanced settings hidden behind a simple toggle.
  

• Smart Defaults Pre-select the most common, recommended, or safest option. This significantly reduces decision-making for the majority of users while still allowing customization for those who need it. Make sure the default is truly beneficial for most users.
  

• Categorization and Filtering Organize options into logical, intuitive groups and provide robust filtering and sorting tools. This lets users quickly choose a small group of items that are relevant to their needs. This makes a big list into a personalized selection.
  

• Highlighting Recommendations / Curated Lists Use visual cues, labels ("Popular," "Best Value," "Recommended by Experts"), or curated lists to guide users toward common or beneficial choices. This acts as a gentle nudge, reducing the burden of evaluation.
  

• Comparison Tools For hard choices (like product comparisons), give clear, side-by-side comparison tables or features that show important differences. This helps users make smart decisions without getting lost in the details.

💡 Myth-Busting Challenge Look at a navigation menu, a product filter section, a form with many fields, or a feature selection screen in a project you're working on. Can you simplify the choices presented? Perhaps group-related items, implement progressive disclosure for less frequent options, or prioritize the most common actions. How might you use smart defaults to reduce decision fatigue for the majority of users, allowing them to proceed quickly and confidently?

Myth #8: "Dark Patterns Are Just Clever UX"

The Myth If it boosts conversion, who cares?

Reality Check Tricking users into actions might win short-term gains, but it erodes trust fast. Ethical UX isn’t a trend—it’s a non-negotiable. Dark patterns are manipulative and reflect poorly on our industry. You don’t have to choose between business goals and user respect—they can (and should) align.

Examples Hidden subscriptions, misleading buttons, guilt-tripping opt-outs, double negatives. You’ve seen them. You’ve hated them. And guess what? So have your users.

Long-Term View Sustainable UX builds loyalty, not resentment. Transparency and respect create trust. Trust creates retention. Retention is the ROI.

Myth-Busting Challenge Find one dark pattern in a product you use. Screenshot it. Now redesign it with honesty and transparency in mind. How would it feel to a first-time user? Would your redesign still convert? Could it even do better?

Myth #9: "Design is Done After the Handoff"

The Myth You’ve made the screens. Time to hit the beach.

Reality Check Design doesn’t end at the handoff—that’s just the beginning of a new chapter. Development collaboration, QA testing, edge case polishing, and post-launch feedback loops are part of the real UX lifecycle. Stay involved. Your designs deserve to live their best life in the wild.

Why It Matters Gaps between design and development can lead to inconsistencies, bugs, regressions, and ultimately poor user experiences. A button 5px off might not sound like a big deal—but what if it breaks a flow? Being proactive post-handoff prevents costly fixes and boosts team trust.

Myth-Busting Challenge Check in on a project you handed off 30+ days ago. What changed during implementation? Did the devs interpret anything differently than you intended? What documentation or tools could improve your next handoff—annotated specs, design tokens, live walkthroughs, a shared checklist?

Key Takeaway: Question Everything (with data!)

UX design isn’t about rigid rules—it’s about principles, people, and progress. Best practices are a helpful starting point, but innovation lives in the gray areas. Break things (intentionally). Test often. Stay curious. Keep asking, “Why?” And never stop advocating for users who don’t have a seat at the table—but trust you to speak up for them.

Busting these myths isn't about tearing down established ideas; it's about fostering a more nuanced, evidence-based approach to UX design. It's about moving beyond dogma and embracing critical thinking, continuous learning, and a healthy dose of skepticism. The best UX designers are eternal students, always curious, always testing their assumptions, always seeking data to validate their hypotheses, and always ready to challenge the status quo in pursuit of truly exceptional user experiences.

Remember, the field of UX is alive and constantly evolving – and so should our understanding of its core principles. Let's commit to designing not just beautifully, but intelligently, with a deep understanding of human behavior and a relentless pursuit of user value.

What UX myths have you busted in your career?

What "truths" did you once hold dear, only to find they didn't stand up to scrutiny or real-world testing?

Share your insights, your challenges, and your "aha!" moments in the comments below!

Let's keep the conversation going and continue to elevate our craft together.

Because good UX isn’t just crafted—it’s questioned, tested, and refined.

Happy Designing!