I'VE OVERDESIGNED BEFORE — HERE'S WHAT I'VE LEARNED ABOUT DOING LESS

Summary from the TLDR Design newsletter

Overdesign often occurs when aesthetics are prioritized over usability or when UX best practices are misapplied. Common examples of overdesign include unnecessary hamburger menus that hide important navigation and "whiplash" layouts that disrupt the natural reading direction. Underdesign, on the other hand, manifests through poor color contrast and inaccessible typography. UX designers can avoid overdesign by conducting thorough research, presenting content in a way that aligns with users' natural reading flow, ensuring that accessibility fundamentals are met, and questioning whether design elements serve real purposes beyond aesthetics.