Design, the “Fun” Parts
How to achieve a happy and healthy design process with constructive criticism that gets the job done!
This article was freshly ground from naturally grown ideas, first-hand experience and the desire to be & do better. If you work in design there’s a pretty good chance you work in collaboration with others; if you work in collaboration with others you’re probably aware of the challenges that come with sharing ideas.
Sharing ideas is about as necessary as breathing. Great ideas are often the product of good communication and where there is communication, you may find miscommunication nearby. When you’re sweating over the details of a design, miscommunication can rear it’s ugly face. So why does miscommunication happen and most importantly how do you spot the pitfalls before you find yourself in one? To understand the solution lets work through some concepts.
The Richly Imagined Future
The most fun you can have in any design project is to imagine what the überproduct should be without any considerations for time or cost. This is an excellent exercise to kickstart any project and begin the melding of minds. Be mindful of others, there is no idea too small or too big, remember, money is no object and you’ve got all the time in the world.
The name of the game is exploration. You’ll define product concepts, goals and value propositions; sketch wireframes, UX/UI elements and discuss technical specifications, it’s up to you and your team to paint a vivid picture of the future. The final destination of the product in question is not the goal of this exercise. Well, not entirely. Yes, it’s valuable to define a direction and establish some relevant criteria; however, the ultimate goal of this task is to build trust, respect, develop listening skills (A++), and to assess the dynamics and capabilities of your team members.
Play nice when others share ideas with you. When people share ideas they are most often expressing a personal thought or feeling. They felt comfortable or compelled enough to share this idea with you. It’s acceptable to dismiss an idea that you may not agree with; it is the act of listening, followed by a respectful rebuttal that will keep team members feeling valued, without hindering their comfort in communicating with you.
Never under any circumstance belittle, criticize or be condescending to an idea that is presented to you. This type of reaction may hinder a person’s ability to share ideas with you or any other member of the team. Effectively, you’ve thrown a wrench in the gears and it’s up to you to repair the damage. There are intelligent ways to say “no”. Consider the possibility that an idea, an inquiry, or suggestion may stem from lack of knowledge, uncertainty, or simply because the idea is wildly adventurous, like tie-dye toilet paper! Inspiration and happy accidents are close neighbours; I’m not one to say no to a freebie or stroke-of-genius, are you?
Scale Back and Define
Once you’ve run through the “pastures of ideas” and had your fill, it’s time to start shearing sheep. Pick two or three ideas from each section of your product that really made-the-grade. You should be choosing ideas that focus on enhancing the user experience, improving functionality and allow you to develop a dynamic user interface. If you’re ideas don’t meet the basic needs, you may want to reconsider the strength and long-term sustainability of implementing those ideas.
When choosing ideas from your bag of tricks, it’s important to (once again) listen to your team members and their reasoning for placing a particular idea on their pedestal of effective tools. Stop and listen to their thought process; this doesn’t mean sit quietly thinking about what you’re going to say to encourage or discourage their intentions. It means stop and listen - be attentive and pay attention. They may say something you hadn’t considered, which may bring the idea into a different light for you and other team members. The important thing about any idea that is under review for product launch, is that you can validate it.
If you or your team members can’t express a better reason to implement an idea for release, other than, “It would be really cool to have this…” you may want to reconsider whether or not this idea has enough merit to take up development time. I’ve discovered that it’s better to have a solid core product that’s aesthetically pleasing and functions well rather than to spend time designing and developing shiny bells and loud whistles. However, if you’ve got lots of time and money to throw around, this may not be an important aspect to consider. At any rate, chances are you have a budget and a strict timeline. Unless you’re in an industry were you’ve got no competition and you’re a shareholder, you’ll most likely go with the first option.
There’s No Ego in Team
There may be an Ego in Eggo, but there’s no Ego (meaning “I” in German) in team. The process - although just scratching the surface - should be empowering, inspirational, and above all creative. Creativity flows best down stream. If you’re not facilitating an open environment for sharing ideas, you’re building walls. Some great concepts steam from automatism. I’m sure you’ve experienced it yourself when challenged with a difficult problem. We often sleep on an idea and for reasons beyond our comprehension we wake up with a clarity of thought. It appears that our idea has magically built itself overnight.
Ideas are not set in stone. When exposed to thoughtful people, they morph and adapt into their most portent form. -TED Talks
Even after you’ve established a set of ideas, they will inevitably evolve and innovate or degrade gracefully into the past. This is the game of evolution, don’t take this personally. You will not benefit from attachment or falling in love with ideas. While at the present moment, the idea may serve it’s purpose it may fall by the way side as you, your team and your product evolve. If you must, focus on providing the most memorable and exciting experience you can, if an idea begins to hinder or fall short of accomplishing this task, it would be in your best interest to innovate.
