I’ve designed with data — here’s what we’re getting wrong

UX design is often assumed to be a purely creative job, lumped together with visual disciplines like branding or illustration. But if you’ve spent any time in the field, you know the job is more than aesthetics. At its core, UX design is about problem-solving. It sits at the intersection of psychology, creativity, and systematic thinking.

Designing thoughtful user experiences can involve hours of user interviews, synthesizing research data, mapping complex user journeys, and iterating on user flows. Creativity still plays a crucial role — not just in visuals, but in imagining futures and solving messy, human problems. But creativity doesn’t work in isolation. It needs insight, best practices, and yes, data.

Lately, though, data has taken over. A/B testing, heatmaps, or metrics like click-through and bounce rates — data is everywhere, shaping how teams make design decisions. But with this rise comes a risk — designers forget the human side of UX. Creativity gets sidelined when success is defined only by short-term metrics.

In this article, we’ll explore what gets lost when we over-rely on data, and how to reclaim the creative, human-centered core of UX design.

How UX became obsessed with numbers

UX has always been about understanding people’s needs, behaviors, and motivations. The best UX designers have always blended psychology, empathy, and systems thinking to create intuitive and meaningful products. Historically, this involved observing real users by conducting usability tests, sketching workflows on whiteboards, and participating in interviews. The process could be time-consuming, but the insights gained were invaluable. When combined with knowledge of design principles and intuition from years of experience, these insights help inform good design decisions.

However, over the last decade, the rise of data tools has transformed how UX work gets done. Platforms like Google Analytics, Amplitude, and Hotjar made it easier than ever to track user behavior in real-time. A/B testing tools, such as Optimizely and VWO, allowed teams to experiment with UI variations and measure the impact on conversions at scale. What was once seen as subjective, design became something that could be tested, measured, and optimized:

This shift in the perception of UX introduced the mindset that numbers should take the lead when making decisions. Many product teams became laser-focused on improving their performance metrics. Designers began to prioritize what the data was telling them over what their users actually needed.

This resulted in some teams becoming so dependent on analytics that they overlook how users actually feel or what they need beneath the surface.

Trapped in the A/B testing loop

As the obsession with constantly outperforming KPIs and business objectives continues, creativity begins to shrink. Designers are often tasked with making iterative adjustments aimed at nudging a metric upward, such as changing a button color, adjusting copy, or rearranging elements on the page.

While these experiments may yield slight improvements and can be important for growth design, they often get prioritized over innovative, riskier projects. Instead of solving meaningful, human-centered problems, designers become trapped in cycles of A/B testing low-stakes changes.

This process of constant optimization discourages designers from taking risks and working on innovative experiences. Bold ideas that could transform the product experience are often put aside because they can’t be easily measured or might momentarily disrupt KPIs:

For example, a designer may want to introduce a new onboarding experience that builds an emotional connection with the user; however, if it slightly increases the time required for them to complete a task, it may be perceived as a failure or a waste of resources. As a result, the creative aspect of design is sacrificed in favor of predictable performance gains.

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Over time, designers may begin to adopt this mindset. They shift from being creative problem solvers to performance analysts, focusing solely on optimizing the company’s metrics. This not only limits the potential for design innovation but can also contribute to designers burning out. It can be demoralizing to waste your creative energy on small, seemingly insignificant tweaks instead of larger, impactful solutions that can actually improve users’ experiences.

Metrics show what, not why

Data can tell us what users are doing, but not why they’re doing it.

Through data, we can understand where our users are clicking, how long they stay on a page, or which paths they take, but without digging deeper, our understanding ends there. We can make assumptions to interpret the metrics, such as assuming high bounce rates indicate disinterest, but it could also be due to a technical issue or poor messaging on the page that causes users to leave. Metrics show behavior and trends but not intent or emotion.

Without enough context from qualitative insights, teams can easily misinterpret the data or make decisions based on incomplete data. This can lead to wasted effort on unnecessary tasks or misaligned priorities. Designers who over-rely on numbers miss the human context, like the emotions, frustrations, and motivations of their users. These are the things that can make or break a user experience.

This is where empathy and qualitative research play their role in UX. Qualitative research methods, such as user interviews or observational studies, can often easily shed light on these kinds of insights that can’t be surfaced through metrics alone.

For example, a new feature might show low engagement in analytics, but without speaking to users, you might not realize they find it confusing to use or simply don’t see its value. These insights don’t surface through dashboards.

Make space for creativity

Everything in life is about balance. With design, data needs to be balanced with innovation and creativity. While metrics are still crucial for understanding trends, validating hypotheses, and improving performance, design is much more than just numbers.

Ultimately, creativity suffers when designers stop asking questions and just respond to data.

Designers need space to be creative and explore their ideas that may not yet have a metric, or test concepts that aren’t immediately measurable. A new interaction pattern, a playful animation, or a more empathetic tone of voice might not immediately impact a key metric, but over time, these creative decisions can shape how users feel and connect with a product. Veteran designers often rely on their sense of intuition, developed over years of working with design patterns, principles, and user behavior.

Along with data, intuition should also be relied upon in certain cases.

Strong product teams understand the value of combining qualitative and quantitative approaches. They utilize analytics tools in conjunction with user interviews, usability testing, and heuristic evaluations to develop a more comprehensive view. In these cases, data often serve as a starting point for discussion, which leads to deeper explorations.

A spike in drop-off may prompt a conversation, a question, or a prototype to test an entirely new approach. This balance creates space for creativity while maintaining a focus on business goals. As a result, designers are empowered to solve problems that lead to innovative experiences.

Conclusion

Data essentially runs the world now. It’s a powerful tool, but shouldn’t be taken as the final word in UX design. It can be used to understand how your users are interacting with your product and identify patterns in their behavior.

However, it shouldn’t be relied upon to infer intention or purpose. That is where qualitative insights help paint the rest of the picture. When designers lean too heavily on metrics, they abandon their creativity for soulless iterative tweaks. They become reactive rather than proactive, chasing short-term gains instead of building long-term value through innovative work.

The future of UX depends on centering around people. Human-centered design involves engaging with users, understanding their motivations, and fostering an environment that encourages bold and imaginative thinking. Metrics should serve that vision, rather than replace it. Start designing for people, not for numbers. Don’t be afraid to trust your instincts, engage with your users, and take calculated risks.

In the end, you’ll build something much more meaningful, even if you can’t measure it yet.

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