“Let’s Just Add a Text Line Explaining That…” and Other Lies We Tell Ourselves

If you’ve ever worked on a complex product, you’ve probably heard this phrase in a product review meeting: “Let’s just add a text line explaining this.”

It’s a simple suggestion, usually meant to solve a usability issue without actually… solving it. And the more complex the product, the more tempting it becomes to lean on text as a crutch instead of simplifying the experience itself.

When Complexity Takes Over

Modern digital products — especially in fintech, AI, and other technically sophisticated fields — are filled with edge cases, risk strategies, and compliance requirements. Naturally, teams introduce rules, guardrails, and safety mechanisms to protect users and the business. But in doing so, we often create a maze of logic that customers have to navigate just to complete a simple task.

The result?

• A checkout flow with asterisks and disclaimers scattered everywhere.

• A settings page where five different toggles interact in unpredictable ways.

• A repayments dashboard that explains every possible scenario in detail… yet still leaves users confused.

And instead of addressing the root issue — the product is too complicated — the quick fix is always: “Let’s add a text line explaining that.”

The Problem with Relying on Text

Here’s the thing: no one reads it.

Well, maybe not no one, but certainly fewer people than you think. Users are accustomed to learning by doing, clicking around, and expecting things to work as they feel they should. They don’t want to pause, read, and process fine print just to use a feature.

But even if they did, text is rarely the answer because:

• It’s passive — it doesn’t fix the friction, just describes it.

• It’s often too late — users only read it after they’ve already hit a roadblock.

• It’s rarely retained — people don’t remember a footnote when making real-time decisions.

Prioritizing Simplicity Over Explanation

Instead of layering on explanations, what if we prioritized designing for intuitive understanding?

Great products don’t need disclaimers to explain how they work. They just work. They guide users effortlessly through flows, leveraging visual hierarchy, progressive disclosure, and predictable patterns rather than text-heavy explanations.

By prioritizing clarity in the product itself, we:

✔️ Reduce cognitive load.

✔️ Increase adoption and engagement.

✔️ Build trust—because users feel in control, not confused.

So, How Do We Balance Simplicity with Risk?

In risk-heavy industries like fintech, there’s always a fear that a simplified product will oversimplify reality. But instead of relying on complex rules and text-based explanations, we should:

1. Test with real users. Instead of assuming users will understand the feature, watch them interact with it. Where do they struggle? What do they expect?

2. Use smart defaults. Guide users toward the best outcomes without overwhelming them with choices.

3. Leverage progressive disclosure. Show users only what they need when they need it — no more, no less.

4. Iterate on the friction points. If users repeatedly struggle with something, it’s not a copy problem. It’s a design problem.

Final Thought: Who Are We Really Designing For?

There’s an inherent selfishness in designing products for the company instead of for the user. When we overcomplicate experiences to serve internal goals — whether that’s risk mitigation, business priorities, or just an engineering constraint — we make users do the heavy lifting. And when they struggle, our response shouldn’t be “Let’s add a text line explaining that.” It should be: “How can we make this simpler?”