ArtVersion’s Principal and Creative Director, Goran Paun, has contributed a new article to Fast Company exploring what it truly means to design for real-world usability.
In Designing for the Real World: How to Build Interfaces People Love to Use, Goran highlights how user experience often unfolds in less-than-ideal conditions—on noisy subways, with cracked screens, low bandwidth, and moments of fatigue or distraction. He argues that designing under assumptions of perfect conditions creates blind spots that leave real users behind.
The article examines the false assumption of optimal user environments and emphasizes the need for empathy-driven, stress-tested, and inclusive design. From fragmented devices and inconsistent networks to accessibility and emotional states, Goran outlines the challenges designers must consider to create interfaces that genuinely work for people.
Through practical methods—like contextual inquiry, stress-testing in real-world scenarios, and inclusive personas—he illustrates how UX professionals can build systems that hold up under everyday constraints, not just lab conditions.
Goran concludes by challenging the industry to redefine success in UX: not just through conversion rates or bounce rates, but by fostering user confidence, resilience, and control.
Read the full article on Fast Company
“Designing beyond ideal scenarios isn’t just good practice—it’s a necessity. Real life is unpredictable, and the best interfaces are the ones that adapt, respect, and empower users in every context.”— Goran Paun, Principal & Creative Director, ArtVersion
The ArtVersion Perspective
At ArtVersion, these principles guide how we approach every project. Designing for real-world use means going beyond aesthetics to anticipate interruptions, accessibility challenges, and device limitations. Our teams routinely conduct usability testing outside of controlled lab settings, ensuring that interfaces perform not just on high-speed networks and the latest devices but also in low-bandwidth environments and older hardware setups.
We embed accessibility and inclusivity into our design systems from the outset, recognizing that situational and permanent constraints impact every user journey. This philosophy carries through our development practices, where we build resilient frameworks that account for error states, fragmented sessions, and the unpredictable ways people interact with digital products.
Ultimately, our work is about more than delivering visually compelling experiences—it’s about creating digital platforms that people trust in any context. Whether designing enterprise platforms or consumer-facing apps, we focus on clarity, adaptability, and empathy, ensuring that design aligns with how people truly live, work, and connect.