Why our first designs are ugly on purpose
Rough cuts in the browser get better feedback than polished mockups. Here's how we make them and what clients say about them.
On day three of every sprint we show the client something ugly: grey boxes, system fonts, real data. People are often surprised. Then they start clicking, and the conversation changes.
Polish hides the questions
A polished mockup invites comments about color and spacing. A rough cut in the browser invites the questions that matter: “where did my draft go?”, “why do I need to log in for this?”
How we make them
- Real HTML and CSS, deployed to a preview link, so it works on the client’s own phone.
- Real data where we can get it: the client’s own product names, prices and edge cases.
- No color except one accent for the main action, so we can see if it stands out.
By the end of the first week the flow is settled, and the second week goes into making it look and feel right.