The Non-Designer’s Guide To Spotting a Good Designer — Postlight — Digital Product Studio
Good designers keep it moving. Designers make a living listening to people tell them that their creations aren’t quite there just yet. Good designers don’t take that criticism personally. They understand how to take in feedback, respond to it, and move the design forward. Great designers do this without creating tension or stress for everyone involved.
Good designers invent. In design, user research is invaluable. But on occasion, a great design innovation is not born out of user research or usage data. It’s the result of a flourish of creativity and risk-taking. (Case in point: Pull-to-refresh.)
Good designers fixate. Designers are problem-solvers. They love puzzles. If they haven’t solved the problem, they can’t let it go. They utterly obsess over a challenge until they unlock it.
Good designers are deeply empathetic. This one is obvious: Great designers internalize the needs and challenges of their users. But also…
Good designers are occasionally unempathetic. Users defend bad habits because they’re familiar. Great design introduces new ways of doing things that people want to embrace because they’re obviously better.
Good designers understand constraints. A good designer grasps what will work in a particular environment and what won’t, and why. They understand technical and business limitations, and know how to work within them.
Good designers push some of the limits. Yet, good designers also propose solutions that go beyond conventions and what is “allowed.” Usually this leads to pushback from business stakeholders (too costly) or engineering (too complicated). But, a good designer chooses these battles wisely, and their passion and advocacy for the user can sometimes lead to an exceptional outcome.
Good designers eliminate steps. “Let’s get rid of it and see what happens…” Good designers are willing to take the risk and throw that widget out. Rather than solving every need with yet another button or lever or setting, they constantly seek to simplify things further.
Posted on September 10, 2019