Why it’s good to fail as a designer
A lot of experts have discussed the importance of fast failure in the design process. Here is why it is imperative to embrace failure as a designer.
Avoiding premature convergence
The role of a designer is not just to design interactions or visual elements, but more importantly to solve problems. It is part of the designer’s job to ensure right directions are taken and in the process, make sure that sufficient exploration is done to avoid prematurely converging on a solution. As the unproven quote by Henry Ford goes — “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have asked for faster horses”. Imagine if Henry Ford had only explored better nutrition supplements to make horses procreate faster horses, instead of thinking about designing a car. Maybe that would have been useful but it still only solves a different problem.
Avoiding complacence
Some designers have become too comfortable in using the hamburger icon, to the extent that they have started using it as a crutch and refuse to think beyond it. While it is wise to follow best practices, employ design patterns and avoid reinventing the wheel, it is equally important to question and understand why certain interactions are in place and how they work together in a bigger context. There are often better ways of designing more usable and meaningful interactions. If you have ever thought “this is how we have done it in the past and it has worked”, consider challenging it.
Getting out of comfort zone
This sounds cliché, but what works today may not be true tomorrow and one size doesn’t always fit all. Making mistakes intelligently and purposefully is a quick way of learning. “Iteration”, an overly used word in the field is applicable even to the designer’s mindset. Success from doing things a certain way is often deterrent to innovation, the way it was even for a great company like Microsoft in the mistakes they initially made in the mobile platform. As a designer, it is necessary to explore different options and look for meaningful ways of solving problems and purposeful fast failure is one way to do it.
Taking risks
Designers should be wise to take calculated risks. It is possible that timelines and budget do not allow this to happen in the industry but is still a good practice to follow internally, be it in a team or as an individual in an organization. What teaches you how to make the decision to take those risks? Learning from experience is wise, but what’s wiser is learning from other people’s experience.
Designers must embrace failure and use it as a ladder to success. Failure should be welcome and fear of failure is something to overcome.
