What We'd Never Design Again

Mistakes we wore like medals.

The sins of over-polish

We once designed a homepage so pristine, so minimal, it had no soul. Every detail was mathematically spaced, every animation subtle enough to whisper. And yet… it said nothing. Beauty without intent is just ornament. That was the first lesson: if it doesn't say something, it says nothing.

Complexity as a disguise

We fell into the trap of adding features to impress. Hover effects stacked on top of interactions, sliders within sliders. It looked advanced — until we asked real users to navigate it. Confusion followed clicks. That day, we learned: sophistication isn't complexity — it's clarity.

The pursuit of trends

There was a phase where every project had to “feel like Apple.” Grey gradients, sleek cards, Helvetica clones. We were chasing prestige instead of personality. The result? Websites that could’ve been anyone’s.
Design becomes forgettable the moment it stops being yours.

Words we didn’t mean

Once, we worked with a tagline that sounded smart, looked sharp, and said… absolutely nothing. It was a brand voice built on buzzwords, not beliefs. And somehow, we thought no one would notice. But they did — in the form of bounce rates. We’ve since learned: write as if someone will call you out. Because they will.

Form that ignored function

There was a portfolio page that won us applause — until we saw how it broke on mobile. We had tested responsiveness but not real-world use. Scroll fatigue, UI elements misaligned, loading issues on poor networks. Pretty wasn’t enough. Now, we design like we're our own users — frustrated, distracted, and on 3G.

We don’t regret those designs.
We regret not listening sooner.

Some mistakes are bookmarks — permanent reminders of what we’ve outgrown.
And we carry them forward not with shame,
but with sharper eyes and better questions.