Product
Design
Psychology

by Wouter de Bres

Understand the minds you're designing for and the mind you're designing with.

• Introduction 0
• Nobody Thinks Like You 1
• You Ruin Your Own Designs 2
• Design for Your Ego 3
• Your Mind Lies to You 4
• Taste Isn't Talent 5
• Creativity Isn't Magic 6
• Deadlines Make You Dumb 7
• Love at First Sketch 8
• Your Knowledge Is the Problem 9
• You Are Not Listening 10

• Pass the Vibe Check First 11
• Your Design Is Rigged 12
• Stop Hiding What's Clickable 13
• Intuitive Design Is a Lie 14
• Your UI Is Exhausting 15
• Stop Breaking the Pattern 16
• Nobody Remembers Your UI 17
• Design the Last Moment First 18
• Fake Progress Is Real Motivation 19
• Layout Speaks Before You Do 20

• Users Don't Think in Tasks 21
• Users Want Now, Not Later 22
• Your Users Are Lying to You 23
• Users React, Then Rationalize 24
• Users Will Hate Your New Design 25
• Your Design Doesn't Translate 26
• Old Habits Beat Better Products 27
• More Options Make Users Quit 28
• Users Will Ignore You 29
• Your Design Made Them Quit 30

• You Ship What Your Boss Likes 31
• Good Design Dies in Meetings 32
• A Redesign Won't Save You 33
• The Metric Is Not the User 34
• The Roadmap Ate the User 35
• Better Ship It Than Admit It 36
• You Design the Same Mistakes 37
• You Solved the Wrong Problem 38
• Research as Alibi 39
• Now You Know Too Much 40