Why I Hate 'Delight' in UI: A Plea for Boring Interfaces

The Cult of Delight

At some point in the last decade, the design industry decided that "functionality" wasn't enough. We needed to emotionalize the user. We needed to create "Delight."

So we added confetti animations when you complete a task. We added cute mascots who wink at you when you enter your password. We wrote quirky microcopy like "Whoopsie daisy!" when our servers crashed.

I am here to tell you that for 99% of software, this is a mistake.

When I am using software, I am almost always trying to solve a problem. I am not looking for a friend. I am not looking for entertainment. I am looking for a tool. A hammer does not need to smile at me. It needs to drive nails.

The Uncanny Valley of Brand Personality

There is nothing more dystopian than a corporation trying to act like a quirky teenager.

I recently tried to cancel a SaaS subscription. The "Cancel" button was hidden behind three screens of pleading illustrations. "Are you sure? We'll miss you!" said a teary-eyed cartoon robot.

This isn't delight. This is emotional manipulation. It is a "Dark Pattern" dressed up in a hoodie.

True respect for the user means getting out of their way. It means realizing that the best interface is the one they spend the least amount of time in. If your users are lingering on your app to admire the animations, you have failed. They should be getting their work done and going home to their actual lives.

Cognitive Load vs. Eye Candy

Every animation costs cognitive load. Your brain has to process the movement.

When you animate a menu opening, you are stealing 300ms of my life. Multiply that by 100 interactions a day, and you are wasting minutes.

I recently analyzed an "innovative" banking app. To see my balance, I had to wait for a 2-second "whoosh" animation of coins stacking up.

I don't want coins stacking up. I want to know if I can afford rent.

The Lesson: Utility > Delight. Always. If the animation doesn't convey meaning (like a spatial transition to show where a file went), cut it.

The Accessibility Cost

"Delightful" UIs are often accessibility nightmares.

Those subtle gray-on-gray texts that look so "clean"? Unreadable for people with low vision. That custom "swipe to delete" gesture that feels so organic? Impossible for someone using a switch device. That quirky conversational form? Confusing for someone with autism who expects clear, literal instructions.

Boring is accessible. Standard controls are accessible. High contrast is accessible. Creating a "unique" experience often means creating an exclusionary one.

In Defense of Brutalism

There is a reason Craigslist hasn't changed its design in 20 years. It works.

There is a reason the Bloomberg Terminal looks like MS-DOS. It is high-density information transfer.

We are seeing a return to "Software Brutalism"—interfaces that are raw, dense, and unpretentious. Look at the Linear issue tracker. It is stark. It is fast. It respects the user's intelligence.

Conclusion

Next time you are tempted to add "delight," ask yourself: "Am I solving a user problem, or am I satisfying my own ego as a designer?"

Your users don't want a relationship with your app. They want to finish the task. Give them the gift of time. Give them the gift of boredom.