Stop jumping into prototypes too soon.

Before we start sketching screens or building flows, there's one critical thing we need to address: complexity.

UX design isn't just about making things look clean or feel smooth. It's about understanding. Understanding what the system does. Who it's for. What the user actually needs. And where the friction lives.

When we jump into prototyping without unpacking complexity, we risk building something that looks great—but doesn’t work well.

Recently, I looked through a portfolio from a design lead with decades of experience. His recent dashboard project? Figma file showed this process: grab a few Dribbble shots, make a quick low fidelity prototype of a screen, then polish the UI.

This is not UX. There was no exploration of users, no mapping of system complexity—just assumptions about what should be on the screen.

✔️ Who are the users, really?

✔️ What are they trying to accomplish?

✔️ What are the moving parts behind the scenes?

✔️ How do they all connect?

If we don’t answer these questions first, prototypes become guesswork.

Design is not decoration. It's problem-solving.

And that starts with clarity—not Figma.