My Design Manifesto
- Humans mean more than just users
- Design is both framing and solving problems
- A design can never be perfect
- No work is done alone
- Respect your teammates
- Live a healthy life
Humans mean more than just users
Many designers work in companies to create products and services for users by collaborating with other stakeholders. As such, even in human-centered design, “human” does not just mean users — they also mean many other entities involved in the design process as well.
“Human” does not just mean users — they also mean many other entities involved in the design process as well
A successful design should take into account all the “humans” involved, not just the users. After all, a product doesn’t exist just for the users — it also exists for the company that owns it, the marketing team that markets it, the engineering team that created it, and many others.
Design is both framing and solving problems
However, to say that we have to design for all users is easier said than done. Most design problems are “wicked problem” (Richard Buchanan) — problems with nothing clearly defined, not even the users, the stakeholders, the constraints, or the needs. And if a problem is undefinable, then it is unsolvable.
If a problem is undefinable, then it is unsolvable.
However, designers have to try to solve these wicked problems nonetheless. If the problem is undefinable, then we have to frame it in a definable way. Thus, the act of design is the act of both framing the problem and solving the framed problem.
A design can never be perfect
However, if the original problem is undefinable then any act of framing the problem is nothing more than an attempt to simplify the unsimplifiable. The framed problem is but the designer’s own understanding of the problem, being not much different from the tiny sky in the eyes of the frog at the bottom of a well. Thus, a design solution to such a problem will never be a perfect solution. In other words, our design solutions, no matter how good they are, will never be a finished solution. A design problem, from the statement to the solution, contains the many biases of designers who made them.
A design problem, from the statement to the solution, contains the many biases of designers who made them.
No work is done alone
Because a design solution contains the biases of the designers, working in teams can potentially reduce the bias in a design solution. By having teammates crosscheck each other’s assumptions and ideas, a design solution becomes more refined.
By having teammates crosscheck each other’s assumptions and ideas, a design solution becomes more refined.
Respect your teammates
However, this collaboration is inherently difficult: to create a better design solution, it’s desirable to have a team with a multidisciplinary background. However, the members of the said team will always have different opinions, ideas, and assumptions. Furthermore, design is often about the process, not the goal, because the end product of design is often not verifiable: unlike a math problem whose solution is confirmable, it’s often difficult or impossible to evaluate a design solution properly before launch. Thus, the design process is very subjective, and debates between team members are unavoidable. Hence, it’s important to remember that we are all having our own subjective opinions based on our experience.
It’s important to remember that we are all having our own subjective opinions based on our experience.
Live a healthy life
To having meetings, debates, and making design decisions every day can be very mentally taxing for designers. The constant stress from debating with teammates, making tough decisions, considering tradeoffs shouldn’t be underestimated. Designers, or anyone else for that matters, should think of their health when working. Furthermore, living a healthy life will also positively affects the designers as well: a healthy life makes the designer calmer, more positive, and make better design decisions. At the end of the day, before we are designers, we are humans. As humans, we should first try to enjoy our life.
Before we are designers, we are humans. As humans, we should first try to enjoy our life.
