When the Domain Is Fuzzy, the UI Pays the Price
How domain understanding and shared language bring clarity to enterprise workflows.
- Event
- DDD Europe 2026
- Location
- Antwerp, Belgium
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When the domain is fuzzy,
the UI pays the price
Frances Sun
Designing clarity when language, ownership, and workflows don’t agree
You are currently thinking…
Raleigh, NC
Advisory UX Designer
I’ve been around
UI Designer
Taipei, Taiwan
Principal Designer
Round Rock, TX
Remote
Lead Designer - Ads
I’ve been around
From consumer to enterprise
Smart home
Preload software
Server config tools
Ads tools
From consumer to enterprise
Enterprise UX is not just screen design.
It’s domain translation.
Consumer → Fun, snackable, short bursts
Consumer design optimizes moments.
Enterprise design supports systems.
Enterprise → Daily, 8-hour main course
Consumer Products:
Where Work Gets Seen
Enterprise Tools:
Where Work Gets Done
The castle is cute. The enterprise is real.
Behind the castle, there‘s a system
And a lot of people building it.
Sales Systems
Operations systems
Reporting workflows
Finance systems
And so much more
Somewhere in that crowd…
There was me. Professionally Confused
Everyone knew their part.
Nobody knew the whole castle.
So,
how do you build the castle?
Set the
context
Decode
real needs
Expose complexity
Lessons from fuzzy domains
Understand the domain
Use the metaphor
Understand the domain
Lessons I’ve picked up over time
If you can’t explain it simply,
you don’t understand it well enough
Albert Einstein
My first enterprise project:
Server Configuration
1.Navigation was inconsistent
2.Users needed configuration details
3.Pricing was getting in the way
4.Make it pretty!
The request sounded simple:
Like everyone else:
I started with the problem
Start with the problem:
Inconsistent and unclear navigation
Start with the problem:
Users wanted configuration, not pricing
First Proposal
1. Navigation still didn’t make sense
2. Users preferred the old design
The brutal first review
Clear UI. Unclear system.
Users didn’t need prettier navigation.
They needed clearer system logic.
I designed before I understood.
1. I saw an ugly interface
2. I didn’t ask what the product was doing
3. I fixed the surface first
Learning the domain the hard way
Different teams understood the product differently.
Learning was easy; Explaining was hard.
What I learned:
Every product has its own recipe
The recipe wasn’t one product.
It was made of parts, steps, and rules.
Parts → what goes into it
Steps → how it gets built
Rules → what can or can’t happen
Final product → what users are buying
New flow:
Clear steps + Always-visible config
Good UX knows users.
Great UX understands the rules behind their work.
Recap: Understand the domain
Expose complexity
Lessons I’ve picked up over time
Complexity becomes dangerous
when nobody sees the full system
Another project :This time, selling servers
Different product. Same enterprise pattern.
From Complexity to Clarity
The process existed. The shared view didn’t.
Visualizing the chaos:
Show the full workflow changed the conversation.
Different tools.
Different languages.
Different meanings of “done.”
From 24 Tools → 1 Workflow
I stopped seeing product,
I started seeing workflow.
Sales → Quote → Order → Finance → Delivery → Support
Users experience workflows, not products.
Recap: Expose Complexity
Make invisible systems visible.
Then people can finally argue about the right thing.
Once the system was visible,
Complaints sounded different.
Complaint
Signal
Root Cause
Decode real needs
Lessons I’ve picked up over time
“Users don’t want it.”
“They’re impossible to talk with”
“We’ve tried everything.”
“We’re burning resources.”
Uh oh
When PMs struggle with users
“I want EVERYTHING pink. 💖”
IN OUR SOFTWARE
This is a real quote.
And then the user said…
Uh oh
Uh oh
So,
I made it pink
Just kidding
“Make it pink” was not a requirement.
It was compressed frustration.
1. Workflow blocked
2. Key action hidden
3. Users lacked visibility
Users often describe domain pain as UI pain.
Uncovering the real user workflow.
Design Detective Mode
Design Detective Mode
I stopped asking what users wanted.
I started watching what they did.
PM
Me
It’s Restriction team
What my users do everyday
The workflow was repetitive.
The mistakes were expensive.
Real problem: hidden function
It wasn’t pink. It was pain.
Real needs hide under surface.
Listen like your job depends on it. Because it does.
Recap: Listen for real needs
Set the context
Lessons I’ve picked up over time
Me in enterprise: presenting.
Everyone else: WA WA WAA
Live image from my team
Too into design. Nobody understands me.
Same screen. Different assumptions.
PM sees scope
Engineer sees logic
Designer sees flow
YES, This is how I see myself
Context creates alignment.
Who / What / When / Where / Why
Steal from MBA: 5w’s
Reduces rework
Exposes disagreement early
Prevents UI negotiation
Alignment starts with language.
Screens show the how.
Shared language explains the why.
Recap: Set the context
Just show screens
Add context first
Shared language helped meetings.
Shared stories helped systems.
Use the metaphor
Lessons I’ve picked up over time
Everyone knew their product.
Nobody had the full map.
When context wasn’t enough
The tools were connected.
The teams were not.
So how to connect it all ?
With references we all know
First step: Connect the dots
Our team’s conclusion:
CandyLand.
Let’s imagine an Ad as candy
All the TV channels are like candy stores
Magic won’t restock the candy
The advertisers provide their candy to us
It takes a village to build a store
How we put the “candy” on the shelves
11:35 PM
2 AM
Versus
Rate card
9 PM
Which channels?
Who to reach?
What time?
includes
Proposal
New Shoe
Deal Management
Get actual media
Take media through airing
Media Management
Stop the wrong content
Block same-type ads in a row.
Content Restrictor
Check for errors before launch.
Log Management
Finally put the candy on the shelves
Log Scheduling
Complex workflow. Shared understanding
Candyland became our domain map.
The system stayed complex.
The conversation got clearer
Recap: Align with metaphor
Complex system.
Shared understanding.
Symptoms of a fuzzy domain
Teams define progress differently
Too many statuses
Which of these actually mean work is done?
Workflow is unclear
Endless Filters
Everyone optimized for something different.
Same word. Different domain.
Ownership is unclear
Confusing permissions
Business logic in disguise
Long forms
What looked like UI problems
…were domain problems.
The UI became the negotiation layer.
Why 17 Status?
PM
Dev
Ops
Everyone was solving a different problem.
UX
The UI is not the only thing paying.
Teams pay with rework.
Users pay with confusion.
Business pays with delay.
The UI is the tip of the iceberg.
Ownership
Language
Rules
Handoffs
Boundaries
UI
If you’re a PM…
Users ask for features.
Teams ask for priorities.
Stakeholders ask for answers.
Before adding a feature,
make sure everyone is solving the same problem.
And yes, your designer can make it pretty while helping you solve these problems.
If you're an Engineer...
Requirements change.
Language changes.
Business changes
Sometimes the code is fine. The understanding isn’t.
And yes, your designer can make it pretty.
Sometimes without touching your code.
If you’re my fellow designers...
Follow the workflow.
Follow the language.
Follow the rules.
That’s where the real business logic lives.
Yes, sometimes the ugly screen is telling you something.
Understand first. Then make it pretty.
Better domains create better UX
Shared language
Clear ownership
Visible Workflow
Explicit business rules
Set the
context
Decode
real needs
Expose complexity
When the domain is fuzzy, the UI pays the price.
Use the metaphor
Understand the domain
Thank You
Frances Sun
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sun0610/
Francessun@gmail.com