We all want to be the artist. The visionary. The one who reinvents the wheel.
We look at sites like Awwwards or Dribbble and see interfaces that float, glide, and defy gravity. We see elements that don’t look like buttons but feel like portals. We think, “If I build that, I will be famous.”
But in UX design, reinventing the wheel is usually just a fancy way of saying “confusing the hell out of your users.”
There is a dangerous myth in our industry that “unique” equals “good.” Agencies and junior designers alike often chase the Dribbble aesthetic—interfaces that look like sci-fi movie props but function about as well as a chocolate teapot. They build portfolios to impress other designers, forgetting that real users aren’t looking for art; they are looking to get a job done.
If your user has to learn how to use your interface, you have failed.
The Tyranny of Learning Curves
Users bring with them a “mental model“—a set of expectations based on every other app, site, and tool they’ve ever used. They know that a “hamburger menu” hides navigation. They know that a magnifying glass means search. They know that a trash can deletes things.
This isn’t laziness; it’s efficiency. The human brain is an energy-conserving machine. It loves patterns because patterns require less processing power.
This is known as Jakob’s Law: Users spend most of their time on other sites.
When you decide that your “Close” button should be a rotating hexagon in the bottom left corner instead of an “X” in the top right, you aren’t being creative. You’re being selfish. You are forcing the user to burn cognitive calories just to figure out how to leave the page. You are disrupting the flow they have established over thousands of hours of internet usage.
Every time a user pauses to ask, “Wait, where is the menu?” you are extracting a “mental tax.” If the tax gets too high, they close the tab and go to a competitor who respects their time.
The “Selfish Designer” Syndrome
Why do we break patterns? Usually, it’s ego. We want our work to stand out. We fear that if we use a standard left-sidebar navigation, our app will look “generic.”
Usability is invisible.
When a design works perfectly, the user doesn’t notice the design; they notice the task getting easier. If your design is loud, flashy, and confusing, the user notices you. And in B2B SaaS or e-commerce, the user doesn’t want to notice the designer. They want to pay their invoice, book their flight, or send their email.
The best design is the design that gets out of the way.
When to Use Patterns (and When to Break Them)
Does this mean you should copy-paste Bootstrap and call it a day? No. That’s laziness, not design. But you should use established UX design patterns as your foundation. You should only break the rules if you have a solution that is objectively 10x better than the standard.
Until then, stick to the script:
- Navigation: Stick to standard layouts (top bar, left sidebar). Users shouldn’t need a map to find the “Home” button. If you hide your navigation inside a gesture-based mystery menu, you are playing a game of hide-and-seek that your user didn’t sign up for.
- Input Forms: Don’t reinvent the radio button or the checkbox. These patterns exist because they work. We’ve all filled out thousands of forms. Don’t make us re-learn how to select “Male/Female/Other” or how to check a box.
- Feedback: When something loads, show a spinner. When something saves, show a checkmark. Don’t invent a new language of “success.” If your error message is a cryptic riddle, you have failed.
“The usage of UX design patterns in your design process promotes creating usable and high-convertive websites… we know it from our experience.” — Eleken
Skeleton vs. Skin: How to Be Unique Without Being Confusing
This is the part where designers panic. “If I use common patterns, my app will look exactly like my competitor’s!”
False. This is where the distinction between Skeleton and Skin comes in.
- The Skeleton: This is the structure. The placement of the navigation, the layout of the form fields, the position of the primary CTA. This should be standard. This should be boring.
- The Skin: This is the visual design. The typography, the color palette, the iconography, the micro-interactions, the copywriting. This is where you can be as unique as you want.
You can have the most boring, standard left-sidebar layout in the world, but if you pair it with bold illustration, witty micro-copy, and a vibrant color palette, your brand will shine through. You can be distinct without being difficult.
Use a pattern library. There are tons of them (like GoodUI or UI Patterns) that offer battle-tested solutions based on A/B testing. These aren’t “crutches”; they are cheat codes for usability. They free up your brain power to solve the actual hard problems of the product, rather than wasting time deciding if your “Login” button should be oval or square.
Be Boring to Be Brave
Real creativity in UX isn’t making a button look like a banana. It’s solving a complex problem so seamlessly that the user never notices the design at all.
It takes guts to say, “We’re going to use a standard tab bar because it’s what our users expect.” It takes confidence to know that your product’s value lies in its utility, not in its novelty.
So, go ahead. Be boring. Your users will thank you for it. And by “thank you,” I mean they will actually use your product instead of rage-quitting.
Downloadable Asset
We’ve compiled a “Don’t Be Weird” Pattern Library. It’s a collection of the most effective, standard UI patterns for navigation, forms, and data tables that you can drop into your project to ensure users feel instantly at home.
[📥 Download the Pattern Library]
FAQs
Q: But what if my brand is ‘quirky’ and ‘different’?
A: Your brand voice can be quirky. Your navigation should be predictable. Don’t make me solve a riddle to find the “Login” button. You can be a comedian without hiding the exit sign.
Q: Are carousels (sliders) a safe pattern?
A: Lord, no. Carousels are often terrible for UX. They hide content, they auto-scroll when you’re trying to read, and mobile users hate swiping them. Only use them if you hate conversion rates.
Q: If I use standard patterns, won’t my site look generic?
A: Customizing the skin (typography, color, spacing) allows for branding without breaking the skeleton (usability). Don’t break the skeleton. A skeleton with a broken arm doesn’t look “edgy”; it looks like it needs a doctor.
Q: What is the one time I should break a pattern?
A: Only when the existing pattern is fundamentally broken for your specific use case. But be prepared for the learning curve. And test it. If your users fail, you were wrong. Go back to the standard.
Also Read: Profile Page Design – The Underrated Conversion Goldmine You’re Ignoring
