Member-only story
Design: Less Mockups Are More
How To Increase Satisfaction While Reducing Mockups and Revisions
Every time I start a design project, I set an initial number of mockup options I’ll plant to present. Depending on the project, I like to offer 2–5 options. But when I first started my design career, I’d offer 10, which would quickly lead to 15 or 20. And this was terrible…for everyone.
My problem was I wanted to explore ALL of the options, and I wanted my clients to have every scenario they could imagine to choose from. My approach was fear-based — I felt that statistically speaking, if I created enough options, surely there’d be something they like.
Providing a lot of options is bad for three reasons:
- You’re functioning as a task monkey instead of an expert.
- Too many options cause analysis paralysis
- You’re wasting time and money
Don’t get me wrong, I completely understand the creative impulse to want to explore every option you can see — but that doesn’t mean we should burden our clients with this. Maybe we do draft out 10–20 options, but when it comes to mockups for presenting, we should be narrowing in on fewer options and here’s why:
1. Be An Expert, Not A Task Monkey
When you present a ton of options, you’re really just generating a ton of stuff and putting the burden of thought and decision on your client. You’re also…
