designdebt
nounUK /dɪˈzaɪn dɛt/
US /dɪˈzaɪn dɛt/
Design debt is when a thing looks messy or hard to use because it was not fixed up over time.
The app has design debt, so the buttons are all different colors and hard to find.
OTHER MEANINGS
2. The extra work a team must do later to fix a product's look and feel.
We spent the sprint paying off design debt by cleaning up the menus.
3. A pile of small design shortcuts that make a product feel old.
Years of quick fixes left the website with serious design debt.
4. The gap between how a product looks now and how it should look.
The new designer mapped out the design debt before starting the refresh.