May 26, 2026 Smashing Newsletter: Issue #560
This newsletter issue was sent out to 176.490 subscribers on Tuesday, May 26, 2026.
Editorial
Have you ever looked at a redesigned website and had the sudden feeling of being... lost? Well, many redesigns tend to leave users with exactly that sensation: clicking around frantically, searching for features that used to be right where you remembered them, or wondering why something as simple as checking out now requires three extra steps.
A redesign that users can’t navigate isn’t a redesign — it’s a reset button on trust. In this newsletter, we take a closer look at valuable guides that will help you navigate challenges throughout your own redesign process, the user psychology behind it all, and the strategic decision-making involved.
We put our heart into crafting inclusive, valuable events (online and offline!) for all of us to learn and grow. We have scholarships, volunteering options, and discounts for large groups, schools, and students. Just email us and we’ll sort it out.
Here’s a quick overview of our upcoming online workshops:
- Giving Your Users a Voice in Every Decision with AI Free Workshop with Paul Boag. June 9
- Designing Complex UIs in the Age of AI (Without Making Them Worse) Free Workshop
with Vitaly Friedman. June 11 - Design Patterns For AI Interfaces UX
with Vitaly Friedman. June 16–30 - The Modern UX Practitioner UX
with Paul Boag. June 24 – July 2 - Design Patterns For Complex UIs and Enterprise UX UX
with Vitaly Friedman. Sep 2–3 - Naming Design Systems DS
with Samantha Gordashko. Sep 8–22 - Live UX Training UX
with Vitaly Friedman. Sep 11 – Oct 12 - Accessibility For Designers UX
with Stéphanie Walter. Sep 21–29 - Cascading Style Systems: Resilient & Maintainable CSS Dev
with Miriam Suzanne. Oct 1–15 - Jump to all workshops →
Today’s newsletter is kindly powered by our friends at ProtoPie, who have built a powerful prototyping tool that helps product designers build realistic, interactive prototypes without writing code. From complex animations to multi-device testing, ProtoPie makes sure to bridge the gap between design and the real product experience.
Hats off to the ProtoPie team for their hard work and continued support of the web community! 🧡
— Iris Lješnjanin (Senior Editor)
1. Step-By-Step Guide To Redesign
Whether you want to redesign a feature or a full application, Taras Bakusevych’s step-by-step guide to redesign has got your back. Based on lessons learned from hundreds of redesigns, it helps you avoid pitfalls and deliver value fast. As Taras points out, it is not a strict walkthrough but rather an outline of a redesign process you can follow and iterate on.
2. Users Don’t Hate Change
Some design changes are instantly accepted by users; others aren’t. But why? Do users hate change? No, argues Jared Spool. To minimize the friction that a redesign can have for users, he shares four principles of “embraceable change.” By breaking change down into small bits, putting users in control, clarifying benefits, and respecting their existing investment in a design, you can make the transition easy and help users actually embrace change.
3. How To Conduct A UX Workshop
Conducting a UX workshop at the very start of your redesign project brings together different perspectives so that you can move forward with a clear, shared goal in mind. In her UX workshop guide, Sarah Jee Watson summarizes everything you need to know about how to prepare, who to invite, what to bring, and how to make sure your UX workshop is a successful and productive event.
4. Radical Redesign Or Incremental Change?
How to pick the right strategy for your redesign project? Is a big-bang redesign better suited, or many small steps? Before you get started, you need to be clear about the problems you try to solve and the results you wish to obtain. Hoa Loranger explores the benefits of both incremental changes and a major overhaul to help you ensure you’re making the best choice for your users.
5. Redesigning Navigation
As a product grows, the information architecture often struggles to keep pace. Pranava Tandra shares valuable insights into how the Intercom team restructured their IA, with clarity becoming the guiding principle behind every design decision. The newly gained simplicity not only made the navigation experience more intuitive for users but also meant fewer debates for the design team. A win-win for everyone.
6. Practical Guide To IA
Information architecture creates structure and meaning, making it easy for users to find the answers to their questions. Whether you’re completely new to information architecture or want to feel more confident about your process and decisions, be sure to check out Donna Spencer’s A Practical Guide to Information Architecture. The PDF version of the book is available for free download.
7. Accessible UX Research, Now Shipping 📚
We’ve got exciting news! Our newest Smashing book, Accessible UX Research by Michele A. Williams, is finally shipping worldwide! Get the book right away or order the eBook for instant download.
Accessible UX Research is your practical guide to making UX research more inclusive of participants with different needs — from planning and recruiting to facilitation, asking better questions, avoiding bias, and building trust. Download a free sample (PDF, 2.3MB) or get the book right away.
8. Upcoming Workshops and Conferences
That’s right! We run online workshops on frontend and design, be it accessibility, performance, or design patterns. In fact, we have a couple of workshops coming up soon, and we thought that, you know, you might want to join in as well.
As always, here’s a quick overview:
- Giving Your Users a Voice in Every Decision with AI Free Workshop with Paul Boag. June 9
- Designing Complex UIs in the Age of AI (Without Making Them Worse) Free Workshop
with Vitaly Friedman. June 11 - Design Patterns For AI Interfaces UX
with Vitaly Friedman. June 16–30 - The Modern UX Practitioner UX
with Paul Boag. June 24 – July 2 - Design Patterns For Complex UIs and Enterprise UX UX
with Vitaly Friedman. Sep 2–3 - Naming Design Systems DS
with Samantha Gordashko. Sep 8–22 - Live UX Training UX
with Vitaly Friedman. Sep 11 – Oct 12 - Accessibility For Designers UX
with Stéphanie Walter. Sep 21–29 - Cascading Style Systems: Resilient & Maintainable CSS Dev
with Miriam Suzanne. Oct 1–15 - Jump to all workshops →
That’s All, Folks!
Thank you so much for reading and for your support in helping us keep the web dev and design community strong with our newsletter. See you next time!
This newsletter issue was written and edited by Geoff Graham (gg), Cosima Mielke (cm), Vitaly Friedman (vf), and Iris Lješnjanin (il).
Smashing Newsletter
Front-end, design and UX. Sent out 1× a week.You can always unsubscribe with just one click.