When I transitioned my career into digital design from industrial design I started hearing this phrase more often: “It doesn’t make sense”. Usually when doing team reviews with non-designers, sometimes even designers are guilty of using it. I think it’s used as a ready-to-use sentence to let your disagreement known. It’s pretty common and harmless, it’s not a cause for discord of any kind (that I’ve noticed) but I don’t think it helps move the discussion forward. It stops the show because the person who designed it clearly thinks it makes sense. The usual reply to this is “I will look into it”. I wonder what they will look into if they don’t get any actionable feedback.

I started questioning why I felt an emotional response to hearing this phrase around so much. I have three interpretations for when “It doesn’t make sense” is used. One could be that the person has a strong preference for a different design pattern. Another might be they don’t understand it for a lack of context. Or if there is no alternative comparison and the context has been explained it might be they just don’t like it and lack a solid argument about it. I give the benefit of the doubt and don’t think the majority disagrees just for fun. We are working together to make the best experiences possible after all.

When I catch myself thinking this might not make sense, I stop to think: Is my preference blinding me to new possible solutions? Or are there better patterns for this use case? If it’s the first then I know that my feedback is more helpful when the design is in the early stages, when changes happen quickly and it’s useful to explore multiple options. If the design is in a late stage it was probably already reviewed by many competent people and my opinion is best kept to myself.

If it’s the second then I have to think about why I disagree to articulate it properly. I cannot just say I don’t think this would work, I must be able to explain why. This helps me be better prepared when things feel like they “don’t make sense”. When asked for feedback I check that my biases don’t influence my judgment. I ask more questions to understand if I’m missing key information that might have influenced the design decisions. Understanding the context helps me be better prepared with good arguments. All of those steps allow me to give better feedback and it helps keep the discussion moving forward. Have you encountered this phrase in the wild? Or have you used it yourself? Let me know why it didn’t make sense. Or if this also doesn’t make sense, that’s fine too.

M