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Style Over Substance

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Read more about the article 01 • Lipstick on a Pig
Lipstick on a Pig

01 • Lipstick on a Pig

  • Post author:hitchhiker
  • Post category:Style Over Substance

Lipstick on a pig describes the act of superficially improving the visual appearance of a product or feature, without addressing its deeper flaws or usability problems. This happens when designers apply a new coat of paint to a bad experience, hoping that users won’t notice the core issues lurking underneath.

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About the Author

Michael Gaigg is a UX designer, design educator, and creative technologist known for transforming complex design principles into clear, approachable, and often humorous stories.

He leads a multi-disciplinary design team (UX, UI, cartography, engineering) and teaches UX/UI principles across digital platforms—including spatial mapping tools, dashboards, and custom app experiences.

His work blends creativity, clarity, and delight, pushing design education beyond formalism and into the realm of relatable metaphors.

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More Patterns:

  • 42 • Murphy’s Law
  • 41 • Kitchen Sink
  • 40 • Iceberg Model
  • 39 • Swiss Cheese Model
  • 38 • AI Oracle Effect
  • 37 • Cobra Effect
  • The Executive Seagull Effect in action
  • 36 • Hick’s Law
  • 35 • Recency Bias
  • 34 • Primacy Bias
  • 33 • Anchoring Bias
  • 32 • Confirmation Bias
  • 31 • Sunk Cost Fallacy
  • 30 • Broken Windows UX
  • 29 • HiPPO
  • 28 • Canary Release
  • 27 • UX Theater
  • 26 • Design by Committee
  • 25 • False Consensus Effect
  • 24 • Sad Path
  • 23 • Happy Path
  • 22 • Dogfooding
  • 21 • Executive Seagull Effect
  • 20 • A/B Cemetery
  • 19 • Wizard of Oz Testing
  • 18 • Pogo Sticking
  • 17 • Whack-a-Mole
  • 16 • Design Debt
  • 15 • Paving the Cow Path
  • 14 • Sandbagging
  • 13 • Rubber Ducking
  • 12 • Bike Shedding
  • 11 • Yak Shaving
  • 10 • Uncanny Valley
  • 09 • Dark Forest UX
  • 08 • Empty Fridge Syndrome
  • 07 • Lorem Ipsum Trap
  • 06 • Frankenstein Design
  • 05 • Pixel Peeping
  • 04 • Cargo Cult UX
  • 03 • Dribbblization
  • 02 • Mullet UI
  • 01 • Lipstick on a Pig
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to Design" eBook (164 pages, instant download)

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