There is a decade-long debate on if it's acceptable for the MVP to be ugly.

The argument from one side is that you can get your first users even if the interface is not sleek or pretty. Meaning you shouldn't waste time on designs early on.

The argument from the other side is that standards are higher now than they were five or ten years before. And all MVPs are really about being minimum lovable products... to the point that ugly interface hinders your chances to conversions that validate your idea.

Well, this holy war is officially over with the recent ChatGPT update.

Just a couple of weeks ago, our pet project went from the interface being ugly as hell to a beauty. Here is how the AskExpert widget looked like early on in development:

And here is how it looks now:

I have very limited Photoshop and Figma skills.

Normally, I would need to reach out to a designer and probably pay some money to make a leap like that. Which I wouldn't do until the idea is validated. Which would make the idea harder to validate because the interface is bland and doesn't stand out.

Here's the kicker: you don't even need to develop anything to create a landing page for your idea. Look at the landing page for AskExpert that I built in under a day, including all illustrations and copy. The assets that look mature and lovely are the key piece. Frankly, you don't need anything else to start.

It took me about 3 hours to get the light and dark theme from scratch to a Figma file. I would be able to do it even faster now.

Having an appealing product makes creating marketing materials easier. It simplifies getting people interested in a demo. If you have an actual MVP, it simplifies getting the point across on demo calls, too.

Today, you can go from text - to Figma design - to a code with a couple of tools and prompts in under a day. Even faster if you master it.

This means two things:

1. We will see more and more products with impeccable professional-grade interfaces.
2. As sleek design becomes a commodity that any person capable of writing text can achieve, MVPs will have to look good, AND stand out with something else.

There is literally no excuse to have an ugly MVP for customer-facing products anymore.

Obviously, prototypes still don't have to look pretty. Each tool has its purpose. Here's a guide I find helpful on rapid prototyping as a product manager.

P.S. I write a bit less often because I use my free time to work on my startup, AskExpert - a shopping assistant that helps to convert more visitors into buyers with personalized advice, and brings offline shopping experience online.

I am going to share even more from my practical learnings, so stay subscribed - and share the article if you find it useful 😊.