What Sci-Fi Taught Me About Design, Ep. 5: The Star Wars Aesthetic Is Cool but Deeply Unusable

The Star Wars universe looks amazing.

Glowing panels, holograms, endless corridors, chrome everything.

But if you actually had to use any of it? You’d be toast.

Let’s take the AT-AT - the Empire’s idea of a tank.

It walks on four fragile legs.

It’s slow, top-heavy, and aims its cannons by moving its entire head.

If you’re inside and it tips, that’s not armor, that’s a coffin.

It looks powerful.

It’s absolutely not.

And that’s the lesson:

Cool isn’t the same as usable.

And “powerful-looking” design often ignores the people inside it.

Real-world example? Websites with full-screen animated intros.

They’re cinematic. They’re dramatic.

They also often block your users from the thing they came for.

That’s not storytelling. That’s a roadblock.

Here’s what we learn from both:

⚠️ A design that looks futuristic but doesn’t work is still broken

⚠️ Users don’t care about your concept art - they care about flow, comfort, and clarity

⚠️ Visual style should serve usability, not replace it

⚠️ If a design sacrifices safety or accessibility for “cool,” it’s not clever - it’s expensive

And if you ever need to explain this to a stakeholder obsessed with visual flair, try this:

"Users don’t pay for vibes.

They pay for things that work."