What to do when you disagree with UI designer?

Question

I have a little question, I am a full UX Designer, I don't do UI in my company. However, I have a regular problem when I am making user interviews then wireframes. The UI designers of my company said "No we can't do that because this journey is too complicated for us, so, it will obviously be too complicated for our users."

They don't want to create anything after that and they don't want to talk about it. What do you do in this situation? Do you testing your wireframes with the users to try and find support since the user interview findings doesn't provide enough weight of evidence?

Thanks

Answer 1

"No we can't do that because this journey is too complicated for us, so, it will obviously be too complicated for our users"

That is an assumption made by your UI designers. And the only way to fix this problem is by extensive user research and user testing.

The most striking truth of the curve is that zero users give zero insights. — The Nielson Norman Group

You need users to participate in creating your product. It is a good idea to test your wireframes with your identified user group and get good feedback from your users. Make sure you document your testing process with video and audio, so that you can later on make a short presentation for your UI design/development team.

This way, you can validate your designs and if your users give positive feedback about your designs, your UI designers will have to suck it up and follow your wireframes.

However, in my job, I believe that it's better to properly convince your other team members, so that they are equally enthusiastic and motivated to deliver a good product. I also believe that some compromises should be made by everyone involved, and never be too fixated on a particular design/idea/concept.

Answer 2

It looks like your organization has some fundamental problems.

I'd have a high-level chat with the person defining the roles and competencies and more importantly: the meaning of UX.

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You're a UX Designer, but you don't do UI and you don't have anything to say about it.

TLDR: UX Designers are highly responsible for the UI too.

"User experience" encompasses all aspects of the end-user's interaction with the company, its services, and its products. - Don Norman, the first human to define UX

If you "don't do UI", you're a cook who isn't concerned with cooking... You researched your ingredients & customers, you wrote your menu and then you hand it over to someone who'll heat it up for you and smack it on a plate without knowing if it's gonna be served out to a posh business man or a road trucker on the go.

The UI Designer ignores your research.

TLDR: either your research is incorrect, or the UI Designer is ignorant. Try convincing him with visual methods like an infographic.

Since you didn't share any information about the research, I can't tell you that the UI Designer is wrong. But I can tell you that if you're right (fair chance on that, since the argument of the UI Designer isn't valid, check the answer from "Arriving from the sky"), you could've perhaps done a better job explaining and advocating the research.

To convince people, I'd advise following communication courses. Those can teach you the golden circle, Neuro-Linguistic programming, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, etc. Or presenting your User Research as an infographic can help the visual people to understand it better.

Also, give your UI Designer SBI feedback about this.

As a last resort if he doesn't listen, tell your manager / product owner / lead designer he's obstructing business potential. But do it respectfully.