What’s the purpose of The UX Critic?
This is an ongoing series to help create better designs for experiences with which I have no formal input in refining.
I’ve often said that one of the easiest jobs in the world is a critic. My goal with this project is not to tear down, mock or otherwise insult others who’ve put an unknown amount of effort into something. Instead, it serves two purposes:
- Provide valuable UX feedback to a company about their product
- Solve real-world UX challenges as examples for others to learn and grow
It’s been a few years since I first thought of doing this. I even wrote a few reviews but decided not to go forward with the project. One of those reviews was for a great mobile app. They started making poor UX decisions, the team was acquired and the app was shut down. There’s no way to know for sure, but I do think there’s a chance if I had provided good feedback, maybe they would have been able to continue on. Instead, thousands of customers lost a service they really enjoyed.
Who is The UX Critic?