Design Isn't Finished Until Somebody Is Using It Meaning

6 quotes about design to live by

If applied, you can change your view on design and the impact your design makes on the world around you.

Nick Groeneveld

Man on a mountain. Colorful chain of mountains in the background.

Photo by Simon Berger on Unsplash

Like most people, I enjoy the occasional quote to help me get inspired. It helps me see things in perspective, change my point-of-view, and sometimes even give me a nudge in the right direction when I'm stuck on a design-related problem I was facing.

The best quotes, I believe, are the ones that are tens or even hundreds of years old and still provide a level of wisdom and value in today's high-paced design world.

On the other hand, there a re also quotes that are often misused, vague, or just useless. The following quotes have real teachable value. We can actually apply the wisdom behind it right away. By taking your time to read and think about the following quotes, you might just be able to create your best, most inspiring work yet.

"There's a big difference between defending work, which a designer must know how to do, and being defensive about work, which a designer should never do."

By Mike Monteiro, co-founder and design director of Mule Design, public speaker, and author.

You are not your work, but that doesn't mean you have to accept every bit of feedback you get. Instead, answer your stakeholders' feedback with a new question. Look for the question behind the question. You could ask any of the following.

  • Why do you suggest we make these changes?
  • What will that add to the user's experience?

Always keep in mind that you are the expert of your craft. Your stakeholders are paying you a lot of money for your expertise and your opinion. They do not pay you to just agree with everything they say. Parry feedback with the well-thought-of reasons that helped you make your design choice. It is okay if it turns out that the feedback you received was valuable. Just don't take it as a personal assault.

"One way of overcoming the fear of the new is to make it look like the old."

By Don Norman, co-founder of Nielsen Norman Group, professor, researcher, and author of The Design of Everyday Things.

This wouldn't be a UX post without including a quote from Don Norman, probably the most well-known person from the world of design.

Whenever something changes in life, you go through the valley of despair. This is the process of getting used to a new way of doing things. In life, this could happen if you start at a job or if you move to a new house, for example.

Even though these are examples of positive change, it will still take some time to get used to. The things you're used to are in a different spot. Doing your daily routine on autopilot isn't an option anymore.

This also happens when you change the design of a product. The way of working they were used to is not an option anymore. Your design might be an improvement, but your users still have to get used to your new design.

As a designer, it is up to you to keep the period a user spends in the valley of despair as short as possible. Guide your users through the valley. Provide tool tips, tutorials, and feedforward dialogs to help your users get used to a new way of working. Just don't let them figure it out for themselves. Chances are you will receive bad feedback, reviews, or lose customers all together.

"Some people think design means how it looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it's really how it works."

By Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple.

Almost every week, one of my co-workers or stakeholders asks me if I can help them with "the UX" of the product they're working on. I'm happy to help, of course. Yet, what usually happens is me working on some sort of UI detail. In other words, I'm working on how it looks. Not on how it works. Does this happen to you as well?

Instead, talk to your stakeholders and show them your vision on design. Tell them you're about how the product works first and how it looks second. After that, deliver your work accordingly.

It is okay to work on UI design since that is a part of UX. However, be aware that it is not the only thing you're doing. UX is about more than just that. It is about the bigger picture and about solving problems in a design-driven way.

"Imagine if every Thursday your shoes exploded if you tied them the usual way. This happens to us all the time with computers, and nobody thinks of complaining."

By Jef Raskin, human-computer interface expert, best known for his work on the Macintosh project, modern word processors, and inventing click-and-drag.

Just as users, we can get used to a certain way of doing things as well. Just because products have been made in a certain way doesn't mean you have to follow that way of working blindly.

As a designer, you can bring on great change by questioning the defaults that are in place. Do they still work? Are they still in the best interest of the user and the client? If the answer is 'no' to any of these questions it is time to think of a better way to do things. You might feel some resistance from your stakeholders. However, if you manage to find a solution that adds value for them, your stakeholders will be onboard in no-time.

By challenging the work and the way of working that is in place you will be able to design a far better product in the long term. That product will be design-driven and of great value to both your users and your stakeholders.

"Design isn't finished until somebody is using it."

By Brenda Laurel, game designer, researcher, and consultant for Sony and Apple.

This well-known quote by Brenda Laurel is usually seen as a quote on designing valuable products for your users. This is something very important, of course. However, you could see this quote in another way as well.

Your work as a designer isn't finished until the product you're designing is finished. Good designers work on a product until they deliver their work to the development team. Great designers keep working on a product until the product is finished and in the hands of the users.

If you want to make real impact as a designer, you should check in with the development team and your stakeholders every now and then. You have to stay on top of things to make sure the design you've worked on gets implemented the way you designed it.

  • Have regular meetings with the development team.
  • Attend sprint reviews if you work in an Agile environment.
  • Talk to your product owner to get stakeholder buy-in for reviews and improvements.

The aforementioned points are just a few examples of ways you can stay connected to the product once you have delivered your design. By doing so, you will make sure your design gets implemented as you intended.

"Define what the product will do before you design how the product will do it."

By Alan Cooper, software designer known for his work on creating personas and Visual Basic.

This one applies to both designers and the business roles you have to work with as a designer. Some time ago, I was asked to lead a user research project to see where the client could best improve their customer journey.

As it turned out, the roadmap with upcoming changes and new features was already in place. When I asked where my research would fit I didn't get a clear answer. Chances were that my research results would disappear somewhere on a backlog without ever being implemented.

Before you start a project, discuss the product roadmap. Is there already an order of the steps you're going to take in place? If so, make sure it follows a design-driven order. Otherwise, you stand the chance that the project will be frustrating, without a valuable role for you, and without a real design impact.

As designers, we must challenge the status quo to create real design-driven impact.

You can do this by applying the wisdom of some great quotes by the big players from the world of design. Start your next project by asking the right questions, challenging the principles that are in place, and educating your stakeholders about what design really is and the added value it brings to the table. Always stay on top to make sure your design gets implemented the way you designed it in the first place.

By doing this, you will be well on your way to create meaningful design solutions that will stand the test of time.

The UX Collective donates US$1 for each article published in our platform. This story contributed to Bay Area Black Designers: a professional development community for Black people who are digital designers and researchers in the San Francisco Bay Area. By joining together in community, members share inspiration, connection, peer mentorship, professional development, resources, feedback, support, and resilience. Silence against systemic racism is not an option. Build the design community you believe in.

Design Isn't Finished Until Somebody Is Using It Meaning

Source: https://uxdesign.cc/6-quotes-about-design-to-live-by-5c0dac7a5e43

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