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Shiny Object Syndrome is real, and it can derail even the most successful brands. The key to avoiding it is simple: ask whether the trend is driving the action, or the action is driving the trend. Strategy and design principles should lead. Trends should follow -- not the other way around.
What Does "Shiny Object Syndrome" Mean in UX Design?
Shiny Object Syndrome is what happens when a hot trend or a big new idea pulls your attention away from the strategy that was actually working.
In the 1900s, some of the most visionary businessmen in history used design thinking to grow a new drink into one of the biggest brands ever built -- and then almost lost everything chasing exactly this kind of distraction.
How Did Coca-Cola Almost Destroy Its Brand by Chasing a Trend?
Coca-Cola started as an accidental invention that exploded during Prohibition as an alternative to alcohol. With the rise of TV and radio, Coke rode the advertising wave and became a mainstream staple of American life. By the 1980s, the company was netting over $600 million a year in profit, had billions of fans around the world, and could do no wrong.
Until they did.
Coke had created and dominated the soft drink industry for decades. But with increasing competition from companies like Pepsi, their market share was shrinking. They still had an edge -- but when they noticed that competitors were winning taste tests on sweetness, executives couldn't resist the urge to jump on the bandwagon.
In April 1985, Coca-Cola launched a sweeter "New Coke," marking the first formula change in almost 100 years. Sales initially ticked up from buzz and curiosity, but the excitement faded fast. Within months, the company was receiving over 1,500 calls every day from people complaining about New Coke. Employees were getting scathing letters. Fans were protesting. Groups were writing songs in honor of the original formula.
It was becoming painfully obvious that Coke's shiny new idea was crashing and burning.
By July, the executives had heard it loud and clear. They pulled New Coke from shelves and returned to the original formula. By getting back to basics and staying laser-focused on their strategy, Coke pulled the company back from the edge of disaster and continued growing it into the $30 billion+ giant it is today.
Why Do Businesses Keep Falling for Shiny Objects?
Coke's story proves that even the best brands get distracted by shiny objects -- hot trends or a big new idea -- and fear of missing out.
In the soft drink industry, they saw consumers gravitating toward sweeter drinks. In UX design, we see businesses gravitating toward the latest buzzwords, styles, and animation trickery.
It sounds like this:
- "I was just on Company X's website and I noticed it has a really cool type of scrolling. I think it's called 'parallax.' Can we do that?"
- "I like how Company Y is designing their graphics. Can our next one look just like that?"
It's smart to study what's new in the industry and keep a close eye on what your competitors are doing. Some trends may even fit with your overall design and marketing strategy and be worth exploring. But others are like shiny objects in the rearview mirror, derailing your journey and distracting your attention from the destination ahead.
Even though it's tempting to jump on board with the latest craze, long-lasting success stems from strategy and discipline. Consider health and fitness. You can try the latest diet craze and lose a couple of pounds quickly, but most likely you'll gain all the weight back and more. Or you could stick to a meal and exercise plan that works well for your body, lose the weight over time, and improve your health over the long term.
There's power in consistency -- a power we find ourselves reminding our partners about all the time.
How Do You Build a Design Strategy That Resists Trend Chasing?
Is the trend driving the action, or is the action driving the trend?
That question is the key difference between a smart design decision and a shiny object.
Think about the popular app feature of pulling down a screen to refresh it. Designers and developers used the design thinking process to empathize with user needs, define the problem, brainstorm potential solutions, prototype a few options, and test them to identify the best one. Through that process, they probably noticed that users often pull the screen down to see the most recent activity at the top. They didn't create pull-down-to-refresh because someone wanted to add a cool animation. User behavior drove innovation.
When it comes to product design, staying focused on the underlying strategy and design principles becomes even more important. It's common for teams to start thinking of new features or tactics during development, but adding them to the scope often dilutes a perfectly good solution and impedes progress.
We've had so many companies come to us with a list of features they want to add to their app, and it's our job to help them focus on the user and the biggest pain point they can solve in a unique or innovative way. Then, we work with them to create an MVP (minimum viable product), get traction, and let users guide future development.
How Do You Know When a New Idea Actually Fits Your Strategy?
Sometimes, it's not an all-or-nothing decision. It's about figuring out how the trend or new idea could fit with the overall strategy.
We're always looking for ways to improve -- as long as those improvements help make progress toward the goals of the user and the business.
For example, at Drawbackwards, we've been working with GoDaddy to create GoDaddy Garage, an online community that helps small business owners and web pros find answers to questions about websites, domains, hosting, online marketing, and WordPress.
Throughout the process, there have been lots of requests to expand the features and content on GoDaddy Garage -- like adding advertising to the site. Ads will help meet business objectives, but in order for them to meet the user's objectives, we couldn't just serve any ads. They had to be relevant ads. With that strategy in mind, our team designed and developed an ad management system to serve ads that are relevant to the user's needs (finding information about websites, domains, hosting, online marketing, and WordPress) and their context (which page they're on or which content they're reading).
How Do You Tell the Difference Between a Shiny Object and a Smart Design Decision?
David Heinemeier Hansson, the creator of Ruby on Rails and a partner at 37signals (the company that created Basecamp), put it well on the Signal vs. Noise blog:
"It's so easy to say yes. Yes to yet another feature, yes to an overly optimistic deadline, yes to a mediocre design, yes, yes, yes. We all want to be loved. But the love won't keep you warm for long when you've taken on yet another obligation that you don't whole-heartedly believe in. You very quickly become trapped in a pit of guilt when the stack of things you've said yes to looms so high that you can't even see the things you really should be doing...
...Use the power of no to get your priorities straight. Take the brief discomfort of confrontation up front and avoid the long regret down the line."
What Questions Should Your Team Ask Before Acting on a New Idea?
Challenge yourself and your team to stop and discuss these before moving forward:
- Why do we want to implement this new idea?
- Does this new idea align with our design principles and current strategy for meeting our business goals and user needs?
- Would this idea differentiate us from our competitors?
- Would it move us closer to reaching our goal?
- Is the effort worth the impact?
If you can confidently answer "yes" to all of these questions and establish a good reason why you're interested in the idea, it may be worth exploring. If not, it's time to use the power of no and reprioritize.
Elegance and Results Beat Tricks and Gimmicks Every Time
In today's fast-changing environment, there's constant pressure to keep up with the latest industry changes and stay competitive. Even brands like Coke, who learned their lesson with the New Coke disaster, still get distracted and develop trendy products like C2 and Coca-Cola Life.
With shiny objects waiting around every corner to sidetrack you, it's more important than ever to stay focused and disciplined. Staying focused may not be as fun or exciting, but elegance and results trump tricks and gimmicks any day.
FAQ
What is Shiny Object Syndrome in UX design? Shiny Object Syndrome is when a team abandons a working strategy to chase a hot trend or a big new idea -- usually because of competitive pressure or fear of missing out. It leads to scope creep, diluted products, and wasted effort.
How do you know if a design trend is worth following? Ask whether user behavior or a real user need is driving the change. If the answer is yes, it may be worth exploring. If the trend is driving the change and there's no clear user need or strategic fit behind it, it's probably a shiny object.
What is an MVP and why does it matter for avoiding trend chasing? An MVP (minimum viable product) is the simplest version of a product that solves a real user problem. Building an MVP first lets you get traction and let real user behavior guide future development -- rather than loading up your product with unproven features because they seem cool right now.
What happened when Coca-Cola changed its formula in 1985? Coca-Cola launched "New Coke" in April 1985 to compete with sweeter rival drinks. Sales briefly increased from curiosity, but within months the company was receiving over 1,500 complaints a day. By July 1985, Coke pulled the new formula and returned to the original -- a clear example of what happens when trend-chasing overrides a strategy that was already working.
How do you say no to a new idea without killing momentum? Use a short framework of key questions: Does this align with our strategy? Does it serve the user? Does the effort justify the impact? If the idea can't clearly answer those questions, "no" is the right call -- and making that call early saves far more time and energy than cleaning up the mess later.
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