Design Thoughtfeely: Pitfalls of Intuition
An addendum to Design Thoughtfeely: Intuition in Creation, on our need for checks and balances on intuition in the design process.
Intuitively Incomplete
In design, we respond instinctively — without always thinking things out or reasoning “why” we feel the way we do. We’re relying on our experience to guide us in the right direction … and this is where intuition can lead us astray. We may not understand how much experience we actually have, and regardless, our users’ reaction to our design will be independent of that experience. To make our intuition more useful, we need to know more.
The Four Stages of Competence
As we study, learn, and grow, it takes time to orient ourselves in the knowledge we’ve gained. In the 1970s, Noel Burch of Gordon Training International described this process as the four stages of competence:
- Stage 1, Unconscious Incompetence: Our intuition is wrong, and we produce poor quality outcomes without realizing it.
- Stage 2, Conscious Incompetence: Our analysis is wrong, and we are aware that our outcomes are of poor quality.
- Stage 3, Conscious Competence: Our analysis is right, and we can produce good quality outcomes when following defined procedures.
- Stage 4, Unconscious Competence: Our intuition is right, and we intuitively produce good quality outcomes.
Know Your Level of Competence
At any given point in your career, you might be at one or more of these stages. Maybe you’re a master of design (stage 4), but a relative newb (stage 1) in an area where your company is expanding. Or you might be able to follow a process of design (stage 3), but aren’t sure what the aesthetic should be, or who makes up your audience is (stage 2). And particularly because two of these stages are unconscious, it can be difficult to confidently judge the solutions you’re sifting through. This is why critique, process, and collaboration are keystones of our field, helping us to be more conscious of our own strengths and weaknesses.
In a nutshell, the first stirring of knowledge is unconscious incompetence, and we approach unconscious competence with time and experience. The challenge is identifying the difference.
Wait — Then How Do We “Do”?
In the realm of design, this is where external validation comes in: positive confirmation tells us our intuition was right. Or, if it turns out our idea doesn’t hold water, we can use that feedback recalibrate our intuition and get back on track. In order for our intuition to provide a useful path from past experience through uncharted territories, we also need to understand which parts of that experience apply to our current process. To sort through it, we must rely on critiques and collaboration and resist riffing off unfounded feelings, staying as grounded as possible in what we know — and what we don’t.
And as usual, moderation is our friend: just as too much process can be confining, relying on too much intuition can be misleading.
If you’re interested in more on how to effectively use your intuition, check out the previous post, Design Thoughtfeely: Intuition in Creation.
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