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Sticking to UI/UX trends is a losing strategy

Published on <a href="http://ift.tt/2scVpOO">| Prototyping: From UX to Front End &mdash; Medium</a> Sean Hervo 
<h4>Love them or loathe them, this is why they’re important</h4>
<img alt="" src="http://ift.tt/2rtYIDW">
We’ve all seen them, perhaps you’ve made one. Maybe you wake up in a cold sweat at 3 A.M, screaming bloody murder about them.
I’m talking about uninvited redesigns — where a designer or team decide to change the design of an existing site/app/brand without being requested or paid to do so.
Lately I’ve seen a lot of hate dished out towards this practice. Usually the argument is that the majority of these redesigns are often just ‘eye candy’ and don’t improve or fit in with the brand.
While that can be true for a lot of cases, I don’t see what is wrong with making a — pretty for the sake of being pretty — design in your spare time.
The key words here being spare time, it’s not client work. It’s just a designer exploring ways of making something look better.
There are others who go beyond that approach, who put more time and dedication in to the process and use research and testing to come up with ideas that improve upon the product.
The latter approach is far better, it’s organised, data driven and effective for solving real pain points.
The former is shorter and impulsive, it’s creating ideas without really thinking about them, but that means it’s design in perhaps its purest and most natural form.
Both methods offer value and both deserve to be tried out, although I definitely reccommend sticking to a plan (and aiming to solve problems) more often than not.
So, why should anyone bother if it’s unpaid and done in their own time? Well, there’s a number of reasons that make it an attractive proposition:
<h4>Learning</h4>
It gives an inexperienced designer a chance to tackle a project. It’s cliché but the best way to learn really is by doing.
When carrying out a redesign project you’ll enhance time management, planning &amp; organisation, problem solving and empathy. You’ll learn how to gather user data and carry out an iterative design process.
You can then write a case study that goes over what you did and why, you can look back on it and learn lessons from it in the future.
You’ll also enhance your practical skills and become far better accustomed to the tools you’re using.
<h4>Portfolio</h4>
Those who are just beginning their design career could struggle to put a reasonable portfolio together.
When you don’t have client work to show off, a redesign is an excellent way to showcase your skills to a potential employer.
Just remember to clearly show your aims, reasons and any research that was carried out as well as the final result.
<h4>Freedom</h4>
There is no brief to follow like there is for a client or student project. There’s no deadline so you only need to work on it when you want to.
In creative terms you have free reign to incorporate whatever features you want. You’re also free to share and discuss it in detail online.
<h4>Networking</h4>
Sharing designs online can create opportunities to interact with other designers/employers.
In some rare cases a well done redesign can lead to a job with the featured company or other paid opportunities.
There is an active community who post on sites like <a href="http://ift.tt/UUHhDv">Uninvited Redesigns</a> and Reddit, as well as the usual suspects Behance and Dribble.
<h4>Inspiration</h4>
Reworking an existing application can inspire others to do likewise, or simply get them in the mood to create something.
It gets people thinking about the ideas that were explored and how they’d approach them, you’ll inspire others to challenge themselves.
Read any redesign case study and I’m sure you’ll think about what you’d do differently, how you would tackle the problems that have been identified. It instigates ‘design thinking’ and that is a fantastic thing.
<h4>Fun</h4>
Thinking up improvements to a product you love can be a fun use of your spare time.
When you’re passionate about something it’s a breeze to do it as a hobby. In fact, starting out doing a couple redesigns purely for fun could acquaint someone with the amazing world of design and be their first step towards a career change.
I’m personally a big supporter of redesigns, I enjoy reading about them, I enjoy making them from time to time. I think it’s great practice and fun for any designer to do in their downtime. It’s also a fascinating topic of discussion no matter what your opinion is .
What’s your take on unsolicited redesigns? Let me know in the comments.
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<a href="http://ift.tt/2sdm9yI">The Value of Unsolicited Redesigns</a> was originally published in <a href="http://ift.tt/2cAqCpx">Prototyping: From UX to Front End</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The Value of Unsolicited Redesigns

The Value of Unsolicited Redesigns

Love them or loathe them, this is why they’re important

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