Wide-legged jeans were in fashion when I was in 7th grade, and much to my mother’s dismay, I somehow managed to have one pair. Each week required some strategy to determine which day of the week I most needed to feel cool.

If you know me personally it will not be hard to imagine 12-year-old me, looking at the week’s events in my daily planner, calculating which day to bust out the big guns – my baggy jeans.

I still vividly remember sitting in a 7th grade class one day when my teacher started talking about the relationship between how we dress and how we feel. Even though I’m pretty sure her point was somehow that baggy pants caused us to act like punks, I heard it differently. When I felt like I looked cool, I was more proud and more confident. Feeling proud of how I dressed was a tool I could use to boost my own morale.

Fast forward 25 years. In a recent kickoff, we asked what our client was hoping to accomplish with the product redesign.

He said that in addition to improving usability and addressing key pain points, a good looking UI would just really help everyone on the team feel a lot better about what they’re all working so hard on.

A lightbulb went off for me. We’re always focused on the user, but design matters internally, too. People want to feel good about what they’re working on.

For many of you, there's a whole team contributing to your product experience—back-end developers, support, sales, you name it. When they feel like the product looks great and they hear that it works great, they are more proud and more confident.

So my challenge to you is to think about how your team feels about your product's user interface. Are they proud of what they see?

If not, consider what a refresh might do for morale.

If you need a flexible partner for such a process, don't hesitate to reach out! Our workshops, UX audits, and strategic UI design can turn your team’s vision into reality.