Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by gammarator 5184 days ago
It looks nice. It doesn't matter.

I'm not convinced that redesigns done in isolation are useful. As the AA designer's reply to dcurtis indicated [1]--in the prototypical example of this kind of stunt--the design can't operate in isolation from the structure and goals of the organization (even if those are dysfunctional).

These "blank page" redesigns disrespect the hard work these YC companies are doing A/B testing and talking to users to improve what really matters: conversions.

But they are great for self-promotion.

[1] http://www.dustincurtis.com/dear_dustin_curtis.html
2 comments
lachyg 5184 days ago
I checked the source of both sites, none of them use any front-end A/B testing services. I think it's incredibly over the top to call this disrespectful.

They're great for self promotion, they're great for self improvement, and he is giving them out to the companies!

link
mehuln 5184 days ago
We do not feel this is disrespectful at all. In fact, we love it. Even Kyro is our user, and we love his passion for Flutter.

A/B testing is something that we will add in near future, but when product is still in alpha, we have to continue to focus on improving it.

link
danilocampos 5184 days ago
Completely different contexts. These are startups with fire at their backs running as fast as they can. They don't have time to be methodical and their brands are completely in flux. They have far fewer stakeholders to please and much quicker reaction time. In short: they are not American Airlines.

An outside contribution at this stage is as valuable as anything the companies themselves have the resources to put together. Meanwhile, we all see different angles to attack these problems while learning about a great designer. Everyone wins, and it sounds like it matters a great deal.

link
gammarator 5184 days ago
Agreed about the value of outside perspectives to resource-poor startups. The (purposefully provocative) point I was trying to make with American Airlines was simply that in all cases design is applied in service to goals which may not be obvious to an outsider.

Of course, an outsider might see what users want more easily than the product team.

link