Polish As You Go
There’s a comical ‘rule’ in programming circles, but it applies just as well to user interface design.
“The first 90 percent of the code accounts for the first 90 percent of the development time. The remaining 10 percent of the code accounts for the other 90 percent of the development time.” — Tom Cargill, Bell Labs
Bugs and rough edges, inevitable in the process of making software, run counter to our ultimate goal of making something people actually use. Since we can’t seem to avoid these emergent paper cuts, we create a step at the end of the process in an effort to smooth them out.
We imagine sanding down the rough edges like a carpenter, finishing and staining in our final step. A dab of concentrated elbow grease to buff out all the unsightly stains and blemishes.
Photo by whereslugo on Unsplash
The problem is that great software isn’t built that way. Design isn’t a final step like painting a car. In software, every element of a product interacts with every other element as it’s being built — we are fabricating the transmission and the steering wheel at the same time. Tug at one area and the other shifts in response.
Make the header larger and you notice the logo height has to bump up a bit as well. Increase the font size in the menu and you’ll need to space out the elements to compensate. Change the body font, and the column width will need adjustment to ensure the text is easy to read.
Change happens in parallel not series. A dance of creation. In a dance, you move your hand and your partner must lift their elbow. A step forward requires a commensurate step back. Spacing and balance must be maintained for a design to feel as one — in harmony.
The process of making is iterative. Discovering what works happens in the flow of creation. In every moment you’re changing something, you’re changing everything. If you want a cohesive experience, one that feels good to the user, there is no other way than to adjust as you go, caring in each moment about the final product and not passing the buck — you can’t trade time today for quality in the future.
If you care enough to add a step at the end, care enough to polish as you go. A polish step is a lie. The worst kind of lie — the one we tell ourselves. The one that says we care when we actually don’t. The one that says ‘we’ll go back and fix it’. You won’t. Caring is a value and that means you do it even when it’s hard — even when you you’d rather not.
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