UI/UX Designer Egoism
as a designer who read a lot of articles about how to use a font, how to place a button, how to show/hide an image, I was really “mad” to know that they change the design without any discussion /any clear reason (maybe), but …
Background
As a fairly new profession (compared to other IT professions such as software engineers, system analysts etc.), the scope of work in the UI / UX field is quite diverse, especially if the teams in the companies tend to be small and have no separated work related to interface (UI) and experience (UX). Inevitably, designers are required to master almost all aspects, from researching persona, defining problems, finding idea solutions, creating wireframes, until prototyping and validating.
As the popularity of this profession, many designers and forums are very enthusiastic to share their thoughts as practitioners in the field of user experience. Each of them then recommends several methods with each pro and cons. The UX Practitioner has told us to use some metrics for finding a problem, use affinity diagram for determining the pain points, use A/B testing for validating some ideas. Then the UI Practitioner gives us references in Dribbble / Behance, doctrine us to meet WCAG standards, recommend us to follow the design system and many more.
I (personally) don’t follow all the steps in detail because usually the research process until the idea has been assisted by the project manager/team (due to the lack of deadlines), but still, the design case remains the responsibility of the designer. So, the job must be done.
“Give me 5 minutes, I’ll give you the image. Give me 5 days I’ll give you the solution”, my-self.
Due to the flexibility of the design process, these design (the picture / mockups / products) will still be delivered by the designers, because the show must go on. But the design that goes through the process (i mean the good process) will be very different (in quality) comparing to ordinary design, trust me :D.
_And that quite long process has started …
The Problems
As a beginner, I am truly enthusiastic about almost all theories, research methods, processes and trends in design updates. I try to put the whole “theory” in the design project and I complete it with clear typography, friendly layout organization, and unique tone schemes. So, I hope the design that I provide becomes a solution, not just a mockup image.
But there is always another problem in every problem-solving. I am very confident with my work and I believe that what I’ve done has become the best solution, until that day comes, when they’re (the developers) no longer follow the design guidelines, they change the layout, they add another button and break some experience (with the important but annoying feature). _can you perceive what I feel? :)
I’ve got mad just imagine that our user will confuse about that change. But a few days later I realized that I’ve made some mistakes.
- I didn’t go into the whole research and only focused on the user need, so there were a few things that missed from the business side.
- I just focused on the users and ignored the other stakeholder
- I did not provide a descriptive design guideline, so the developer did not understand the purpose of the design.
_and I was pretty devastated by all those things.
The Solution
After a long of consciousness talk, I’ve got some conclusion. The first thing that designer must-have is empathy. It’s not only about giving the best to users but also get a good discussion with a team. The best team, consist of various people with various skill. Of course, that will make a lot of differences in the product delivery process.
“The first thing that designer must-have is empathy”
Everyone has their own thoughts. Different heads differ in thought. This is an absolute thing that happens everywhere. Each person has a point of view and they’re thinking that is good. As a designer, with a number of theories about the design, must understand and have a strong reason why design must consist of several images, text, and CTA (call to action) buttons. Same as another profession that is charged to mastering their field.
Sometimes we have to be selfish with the design because we are considered and charged to mastering the design field, but it does not mean that the designer is the only one who is always being true. We need some feedback, and feedback can come from anyone (not only user).
Conclusion
Remember our first rule is “empathize”. Even if we have followed the existing standards, we need to make a kind of descriptive guidelines so that other stakeholders understand why they should follow the existing design. “Selfishness is important, but empathizing is more important”.
_ I’d love to hear some thought, let’s discuss by giving some comment below :)
