Is intuition your strong suit?
Have you ever been in a situation where you made a design decision because “it felt right”? That is your intuition speaking. Unfortunately, we often misunderstand intuition as guesswork.
Albert Einstein very rightly said —
“A new idea comes suddenly and in a rather intuitive way, but intuition is nothing but the outcome of earlier intellectual experience.”
Intuition is NOT random. Intuition relies on our brain’s power of pattern-matching. Scientists believe intuition operates through the entire right side of our brain, the brain’s hippocampus and through our gut (“Gut Feeling”). Our brain stores our experiences in our long-term memory and unconsciously develops judgements based on them. When we face similar situations in the future, our brain draws inferences from the past and helps us make faster decisions.
An interview study conducted with designers by Prof. Dr Petra Badke-Schaub at the Delft University of Technology, Netherlands, concluded that designers use intuition most often in the following stages of the design process — generating ideas, selecting ideas, searching information and searching for inspiration.
Our intuition sets us apart from other designers because we all have unique experiences, yet we are not confident in claiming this unique trait. Perhaps because we do not understand its value in solving unique and complex problems.
Does a UX designer know the exact situation and context in which the user is using the product? Probably not. It is the delicate balance between intuition and rational thinking that leads to a creative solution.
Unfortunately, over time the various parts of the design process have become more and more methodical, leaving little room for intuition. This methodical approach to design is preferred because it gives designers more confidence, and clients find the design process more understandable and accountable. However, complex problems cannot be solved successfully without intuition. We can draw plenty of examples from history, from Albert Einstein to Steve Jobs, countless thinkers, artists, and inventors have acknowledged that instinct is critical to human success.
As a UX Designer at Zazzy, I have faced several situations where I was unsure whether I should follow my intuition to solve a particular design problem. However, I noticed that my decision-making and judgment improved in quality and speed with every new project. Intuition cannot be developed in a day. We must be willing to take risks and fail to build our intuition.
What’s your intuition story? Share it with us on twitter @zazzystudio
