Design Snacks
The quest to create engaging design artifacts
I’ve always struggled to consistently share design work with my development team. In the past, I’ve created design docs as a way to communicate the status of long-running projects and document every step of my design decision-making process.
Initially confused that no one wanted to spend hours reading through my process work, I realized that my design links and walls of text weren’t suited for busy developers.
Designing how I present my work is arguably just as important as the work itself. When I clearly communicate the user story and the type of feedback I’m looking for, the quality of feedback I receive is better. My dev team is just as much a user to me as the customers I’m designing for.
Enter Design Snacks
I like to think of Design Snacks as bite-sized takeaways that highlight important design exploration or research quotes that my team may find valuable. It’s an artifact I can share every week to let people know what’s coming around the bend, keeping my team curious but not overwhelmed.
What are the ingredients to a tasty snack?
Early explorations without expecting feedback
I wanted to showcase small interactions and early work without expecting any feedback from my team. Don’t get me wrong: feedback is always welcome in the design world. But pressuring my team to always have an opinion can ruin the enjoyment of seeing the design process unfold and getting quick insights into my process.
A quote or two from user interviews
Not everyone has time to read through my research takeaways. (Sometimes I can’t even read through my colleagues’ takeaways.) Instead, I highlight quotes and link to the full takeaway for those who want to learn more.
My research often highlights areas of improvement, but over time, I’ve started to incorporate more positive quotes, too. Positive feedback creates momentum and makes for tastier snacks.
Adding novelty into the format
To emphasize the exploratory nature of what I’m sharing and introduce a little fun, I’ve departed from Gatsby’s main brand and created Design Snacks-specific illustrations and colors.
Figma helps me create fun surprise interactions and nudges me away from writing walls of text. As a designer, I can present my work in a way that’s unique, engaging, and hopefully fun!
How has it helped me and my team?
Personal accountability
A weekly cadence of sharing my work has helped keep me accountable to the deadlines I set for myself. I can’t procrastinate as often if I’m due for sharing a snack. Don’t worry, I’m not a saint — I still procrastinate and keep cookies to myself, just not as often.
It’s a conversation starter
It’s easy for me to avoid sharing early work with my team because, quite frankly, it’s not good — or so the traumatized print designer still in me would think. I found that when I don’t worry about sharing a complete design, I’m able to focus the conversation on smaller details. This allows me to share design iterations much earlier.
Visibility on what’s next
Sharing designs gets my team excited for the work that’s coming up. They may not be actively thinking about the same user problems as I am, but it gives them the ability to connect my future work with the work they’re developing right now.
Bringing my team closer to the user
Not everyone can join me for user interviews or read through user insights. Showcasing particular interviews and highlights has been a great way to bring the user to them.
An invite to Design Island
Design Island is certainly not Love Island — in fact, it’s quite the opposite. As a single designer on a product squad of many developers, it can feel as though I’m on an island of my own, trying to solve problems. While the island provides space to do deep work, there’s always the risk of perishing in loneliness.
Design Snacks have helped me close the distance between my island and the passing ship that houses the rest of my squad, acting as an inflatable raft to carry me over. All jokes aside, it’s really easy to feel lonely as a single designer on a squad, and I’ve found design snacks to be a point to connect on.
Have I completed my quest for the perfect design artifact?
No, I have not. I think process work is iterative, something that will always be adapting and changing based on how I and my teammates work. So far, Design Snacks have had a great response from my team. While it may not always be the answer, it works right now and that’s good enough for me.
Stay hungry my friends ❤
If you enjoyed reading my thoughts on Design Snacks, please reach out to me on Twitter @raisajg8s. You can also check out some additional design-focused content from the Gatsby design team by visiting our index of Gatsby design articles.
