“They are so focused on whether they can do something. They never stop to ask if they should do something.”
- Ian Malcolm, Jurassic Park
Vibe coded websites may not be resurrected tyrannosaurs, but Jeff Goldblum’s words definitely capture much of the current moment in web design.
Put simply, it is now easier than ever to do things, and harder than ever to know what we should do.
AI technology has dramatically increased the speed at which plans can be executed, and has given non-specialists the ability to create things they otherwise could only dream about. But it has not helped us define the goals, risks, and knock-on effects of this creative force. It has given us the T-Rex, but not the electric fence.
How we plan for these dinosaurs is therefore a pressing issue, and one which UX teams like ours are well-positioned to address. Here’s how we do exactly that at Kooba:
Defining success
One of the primary benefits of UX thinking is in defining the “why” of a project. Why does this page exist on your website? Why is there an image within this module? Why will a user visit this content? Why does the website exist at all?
By answering these questions, we can understand your website in terms of direct tasks and goals to be accomplished, rather than in vague aspirational ideas. This means that when you begin to actually design and develop your website (whether with AI tools or a human team), you’ll actually know what it needs to accomplish at each level. Rather than just making something because you can (like bringing Dinosaurs back to life), you’ll design something because you know what it should accomplish.
At a basic level, this will ensure that your website “does its job”, rather than just looking good. It provides a measuring stick against which each component and page can be checked, and an overarching vision for each new design to be guided by.
Anticipating failure
Planning for success is always fun, but UX teams can also find areas of risk and potential failure. By assessing each proposed element of a project, we can think clearly about what may underperform or become redundant, and avoid over-investing into underperforming assets.
One of the reasons that we undertake UX research ahead of any other design work is to gauge costs, risks, and trade-offs ahead of time. This ensures that your team can make informed decisions about where to invest limited design and development resources. As we like to put it, you wouldn’t jump into the pool unless you know how deep it is.
Of course, projects built with AI may seem to have less risk attached. After all, the cost of designing an ineffective page or component is lower. But this actually increases the risk. Rather than immediately seeing the issue and building an alternative solution, you’ll be left with an underperforming page that drags down your entire conversion pipeline over time. The fact that it was built quickly and cheaply won’t provide much consolation.
Avoiding revisions
This brings us to the most significant risk of AI website projects; rebuilds and redesigns. When everything is easy to produce, you can easily become trapped within an underperforming solution that seems “good enough”. When you finally realise that a rebuild is necessary, the components created with AI will be hard to manage or adjust, and you’ll be forced back to square one
Again, a UX team can provide the perspective needed to avoid such a situation. By clearly defining the goals of the overall project, superfluous elements and pages can be pre-emptively removed from the scope, even if they look “good enough”. This reduces the chances of a redesign, and increases the lifespan of the finished website. Good UX will also make it easier to add to your solution in the future, as vibe-coded designs can be very hard to update over time.
The wider benefits of deliberate UX thinking
Finally, it is worth considering the broader advantages that come with slower, more deliberate UX thinking. By taking the time to really dig into your website’s function, purpose, and objectives, you’ll realise things that would otherwise be missed. Quickly churning out a passable solution may feel efficient, but you’ll learn very little in the process, and won’t even really know what you have created by the end.
Obviously, launching websites quickly is great. But when working on these projects, beginning slowly will mean you can finish fast, and avoid timeline extensions caused by rebuilds and rescopes.
Learn more
To read more about our UX process at Kooba, you can read one our recent overviews on the topic here: https://www.kooba.ie/journal/ux-research-and-ux-design-the-kooba-approach
To see how UX thinking can be integrated into your own project, just reach out to our team today. We’d love to discuss your exact requirement in detail.
