Design as a facilitator & collaborator
Design can be a facilitator to bring the right people in and to value the perspectives of users and of team members to build better products that meet the needs of the user. As designers, we have many blind spots and don’t know all the answers. Our job is to connect and bring people in to better understand other’s expertise. Collaborating makes our designs stronger.
Humble and inclusive, not pretentious.
Clear is kind: Clear goals, understanding of why, clear expectations
Our design process starts with the define and align phase which is all about clarifying what we are doing, why we are doing it, and what we aren’t doing. It gives us rails to keep us on track. We should return to our goals often and remind the team of them at each phase. When we’re giving feedback to each other as designers, it’s great to share our gut and impressions, but our decisions should be more informed by communicating well our whys. Why is this a worse experience for our users? Why isn’t this on brand from our perspective?
This is also a product design principle.
Good design is built on listening and caring
Listening and caring produce empathy for who we are designing for. Great design comes out of that understanding and not our assumptions of what we think the user needs or wants. It’s also important when we’re talking to users to listen for what they mean and what we can learn by observing their patterns, hacks, context, and behaviors. Their words alone can sometimes be misleading.
Challenge assumptions, our own included.
Embrace a spirit of improvement and welcome feedback
We can choose to compare to an ideal or some vision of perfect, or we can compare to what exists today. Let’s choose to compare to what exists today and be proud when we’ve improved that experience, even a little. Feedback is an opportunity to grow and to learn. We don’t have to agree or take all feedback, but we should always be open to hearing and considering feedback.
Choose your hills-to-die on carefully.
We’re anti-pretentious-design culture
There is a design culture that is more known for hating and tearing down public designs that they had no part in. It’s critical and overly pessimistic. We are critical of our own designs and of products or designs we have personally experienced, but we avoid participating in the hating game that carries an air of knowing better despite not knowing the constraints or goals of some project. We can choose curiosity instead of judgment. In critiquing each other, ask why and seek to understand before giving negative feedback. We think design culture could be known for being supportive and helpful, a decidedly more positive and encouraging posture.
You have expertise as a designer; don’t discount that and don’t abuse that. Discounting your expertise would be needing data or outside approval for every design choice. Abusing that would be a posture of pretentiousness that makes calls without explaining your reasons in a way that makes sense to non-designers or not listening to users or team members’ perspectives because they aren’t designers.
Take pride & care in your work, without being a jerk.
Design at Pocket Prep
Design as a facilitator & collaborator
Design can be a facilitator to bring the right people in and to value the perspectives of users and of team members to build better products that meet the needs of the user. As designers, we have many blind spots and don’t know all the answers. Our job is to connect and bring people in to better understand other’s expertise. Collaborating makes our designs stronger.
Humble and inclusive, not pretentious.
Clear is kind: Clear goals, understanding of why, clear expectations
Our design process starts with the define and align phase which is all about clarifying what we are doing, why we are doing it, and what we aren’t doing. It gives us rails to keep us on track. We should return to our goals often and remind the team of them at each phase. When we’re giving feedback to each other as designers, it’s great to share our gut and impressions, but our decisions should be more informed by communicating well our whys. Why is this a worse experience for our users? Why isn’t this on brand from our perspective?
This is also a product design principle.
Good design is built on listening and caring
Listening and caring produce empathy for who we are designing for. Great design comes out of that understanding and not our assumptions of what we think the user needs or wants. It’s also important when we’re talking to users to listen for what they mean and what we can learn by observing their patterns, hacks, context, and behaviors. Their words alone can sometimes be misleading.
Challenge assumptions, our own included.
Embrace a spirit of improvement and welcome feedback
We can choose to compare to an ideal or some vision of perfect, or we can compare to what exists today. Let’s choose to compare to what exists today and be proud when we’ve improved that experience, even a little. Feedback is an opportunity to grow and to learn. We don’t have to agree or take all feedback, but we should always be open to hearing and considering feedback.
Choose your hills-to-die on carefully.
We’re anti-pretentious-design culture
There is a design culture that is more known for hating and tearing down public designs that they had no part in. It’s critical and overly pessimistic. We are critical of our own designs and of products or designs we have personally experienced, but we avoid participating in the hating game that carries an air of knowing better despite not knowing the constraints or goals of some project. We can choose curiosity instead of judgment. In critiquing each other, ask why and seek to understand before giving negative feedback. We think design culture could be known for being supportive and helpful, a decidedly more positive and encouraging posture.
You have expertise as a designer; don’t discount that and don’t abuse that. Discounting your expertise would be needing data or outside approval for every design choice. Abusing that would be a posture of pretentiousness that makes calls without explaining your reasons in a way that makes sense to non-designers or not listening to users or team members’ perspectives because they aren’t designers.
Take pride & care in your work, without being a jerk.
Design at Pocket Prep
Design as a facilitator & collaborator
Design can be a facilitator to bring the right people in and to value the perspectives of users and of team members to build better products that meet the needs of the user. As designers, we have many blind spots and don’t know all the answers. Our job is to connect and bring people in to better understand other’s expertise. Collaborating makes our designs stronger.
Humble and inclusive, not pretentious.
Clear is kind: Clear goals, understanding of why, clear expectations
Our design process starts with the define and align phase which is all about clarifying what we are doing, why we are doing it, and what we aren’t doing. It gives us rails to keep us on track. We should return to our goals often and remind the team of them at each phase. When we’re giving feedback to each other as designers, it’s great to share our gut and impressions, but our decisions should be more informed by communicating well our whys. Why is this a worse experience for our users? Why isn’t this on brand from our perspective?
This is also a product design principle.
Good design is built on listening and caring
Listening and caring produce empathy for who we are designing for. Great design comes out of that understanding and not our assumptions of what we think the user needs or wants. It’s also important when we’re talking to users to listen for what they mean and what we can learn by observing their patterns, hacks, context, and behaviors. Their words alone can sometimes be misleading.
Challenge assumptions, our own included.
Embrace a spirit of improvement and welcome feedback
We can choose to compare to an ideal or some vision of perfect, or we can compare to what exists today. Let’s choose to compare to what exists today and be proud when we’ve improved that experience, even a little. Feedback is an opportunity to grow and to learn. We don’t have to agree or take all feedback, but we should always be open to hearing and considering feedback.
Choose your hills-to-die on carefully.
We’re anti-pretentious-design culture
There is a design culture that is more known for hating and tearing down public designs that they had no part in. It’s critical and overly pessimistic. We are critical of our own designs and of products or designs we have personally experienced, but we avoid participating in the hating game that carries an air of knowing better despite not knowing the constraints or goals of some project. We can choose curiosity instead of judgment. In critiquing each other, ask why and seek to understand before giving negative feedback. We think design culture could be known for being supportive and helpful, a decidedly more positive and encouraging posture.
You have expertise as a designer; don’t discount that and don’t abuse that. Discounting your expertise would be needing data or outside approval for every design choice. Abusing that would be a posture of pretentiousness that makes calls without explaining your reasons in a way that makes sense to non-designers or not listening to users or team members’ perspectives because they aren’t designers.
Take pride & care in your work, without being a jerk.
Design at Pocket Prep