Ideal design inspires

I once designed a logo for an engineering firm. The owner didn't like my first draft. I offered a revision. He declined. A few months later, I came across their logo: it was created with Microsoft Wordart. The company was very successful.

It shook my belief in the value of good design. If “bad” design also delivers value, why improve it?

We use wildly successful products with subpar UX that are way more profitable than their competitors: Teams, Amazon, JIRA etc. Their business features and market share far outweigh the benefits they’d gain from a better UX.

But I still believe in always striving for good design.

At its minimum, design removes a pain. At its ideal, design inspires.