Dog Eat Dog. Defend Your Design.

Most people in the creative industry are well accustomed to having ideas and design choices scrutinized to the nth degree. Being able to design something is one thing, but being able to justify design choices and communicate why you did what you did is another thing entirely.

Some designers write long narratives justifying every little design choice. Some write personas as a means of grounding the design choices back to a “real” person. I don’t claim narratives, personas, or any one tactic to be my method of justification. I prefer to just focus on authenticity. Keep it simple. Is this design authentic to the brand? Does this communicate what the brand needs? Does this serve a purpose or just look cool?

As creatives and designers we love to ask “Why?” But we hate when people ask it of us. If you’re design has left room for someone to questions that can’t be answered or justified, maybe the design isn’t finished yet. Conversely, it is very beneficial to know when to stop pushing and just let the design live. Somewhere in the middle is where we find good design.

Self-editing is very important to being a good designer. You have to be able to step back, step away from your design and see it objectively. It’s hard. I know. And if you find too many holes or if you can’t logically defend and patch those holes, be prepared to scrap the idea. Divorcing a bad idea is always better than defending one.