Articulating Design Decisions

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Over time, developers, too, have come to see the value of creating a great user experience. They understand that better design can result in a better application, both for them to build and for the business. They’re on board to help us create the best possible experience, but they probably have different ideas about how to do it.

To get the attention of your stakeholders, it’s important to begin your response with a phrase that emphasizes your use of data, such as: A/B testing: helps designers choose the best decision between two options. A/B testing works best when designers want to test subtle differences, like color choice, headlines, and CTAs. Don't assume that your design decisions are self-explanatory. Take the time to explain your thought process and the reasoning behind your choices."- Tom Greever L

Design

The awkwardness of UX’s adolescence could not be any clearer than it is in our relationships and interactions with developers. As mobile phone growth turned powerful smartphones into touch-screen super phones, our ability to interact with products and services on a regular basis shifted from being an intentional, arm’s-length, conscious choice to an automatic muscle-memory involuntary jerk of the wrist. Like social media, our devices are intensely personal and are becoming more intimate. Our interface with the world is no longer the machine at arm’s length. It’s the touchable glossy display that we always have with us. Always on, always connected, always shaping the way we see our world. As a result, universal understanding of the importance of UX has grown, too. Every software update introduces new ideas and elicits strong opinions from every user. This is why so many people have an opinion about your work. STARTUP CULTURE HAS CHANGED HOW PEOPLE VIEW DIGITAL PRODUCTS The customer journey flow had some experience improvement needs and one of the requirements was that we simplify. Our entire culture has shifted its thinking about design, specifically the design of interfaces, devices, services, and products. Everyone has a personal device now, and they are only getting more personal. The Internet of Things will continue to push UX into (and onto) our faces at every turn. Everyone has apps they use, love, and hate. The people in your meetings are probably participating in another user experience while at the same time reviewing and considering your own. It’s no wonder that everyone everywhere at every level of the organization is intensely interested in and has an opinion about the UX that you are trying to create. How are you going to deal with it? Articulating Design Decisions: Communicate with Stakeholders, Keep Your Sanity, and Deliver the Best User Experience

Discount for UXmatters Readers—Buy Articulating Design Decisions from O’Reilly Media, using the discount code AUTHD, and save 50% off the retail price for the ebook and 40% off the print book. If you’re thinking, “But, Hannah, ‘good design speaks for itself,’” then Greever explains why that simply isn’t true. Empathy can sometimes be a controversial term within the UX community. Although it is true that it is nearly impossible for a UX professional to have had the same experiences as a customer or stakeholder, we can certainly gain insights into their motivations and different perspectives. In some ways, there is an arrogance that prevents us from being truly productive with people outside of our own peers. We don’t always see the other stakeholders on our project as knowing anything valuable about design. We don’t trust their instincts the way we trust our own. After all, we’re the experts. We were hired to design things because that’s what we’re good at doing. Why should managers care? Can’t they just trust us to do our jobs? When presenting design decisions, it's important to use real-world examples and to show how your design choices will improve the user's experience.” - Tom GreeverThat’s definitely a point where I would disagree with a lot of people. I don’t think good design does speak for itself. We are the advocates for our users and our work… they need to understand the logic and reason behind why we did what we did.”

When you’re in a meeting to get approval for your designs, staying focused is critical. It’s very easy for design discussions to go off on a tangent or be taken in an unexpected direction because of one small thing. There’s just something about design that elicits so much more clutter conversation than other disciplines. One way to keep focused is to remove anything that you think will be a distraction. A lot of people are easily distracted by things that simply don’t matter to the goal of the meeting. They can be so distracted by one thing that they’ll identify a different, unrelated problem or be unable to discuss the real issues. Consequently, part of your job is to pay attention to those things that derail the discussion and remove them from the equation altogether.And that's ok! This happens because people spend more time focusing on a small problem because it is more easily visible and accessible to everyone. So, lead the conversation for people to bring up points that evolve the discussion and drive progress for your design team. Articulating design decisions is a crucial soft skill for a designer to be effective and successful. In this article, we discuss the need for good decision articulation and some of the best practices. Why is articulating design decisions important? The headline and call to action are arranged so that the user reads the headline first and taps on the call to action next.” Moving ‘Related Items’ above the product description will increase product engagement because users will have more opportunities to see more products.” When you zoom out, design decision-making is a complex process involving multiple factors and considerations. 4 Ways Designers Make Decisions

It is also important to remember that sometimes when a stakeholder is very insistent on a specific change you can start to evolve the design in a way that is inconsistent with the problem." What to say when the CEO is obsessing over a minute detail that isn’t relevant to the meeting’s purpose: Because I deal with the financial world, my product has a series of legal requirements and not all of them I agreed to have. We must identify conversational patterns where it is necessary to employ methods to keep our focus on task." I’ve spent countless hours of my career practicing meetings out loud: pacing the floor of my office, presenting my content to a picture on the wall, and even answering questions from invisible audience members. I’ve done the same thing in my car, in line at the grocery store, or waiting for a plane. Any onlooker might think I’m crazy, talking and gesturing as if there were someone else with me. But the habit of practicing for a meeting is one of the only ways you’ll know how you sound. You anticipate reactions and then you practice how to reply.Stakeholders always appreciate connecting your solution to the goals of the business. This is a solid way to make the case for your design through appealing to a nobler motive. This may very well be your answer to the question, “What problem does this solve?” because usually the problems we want to solve with the design are the same as the goals of the project or business overall. Whatever the source of the reasoning, always emphasize that your design is intended to help the company achieve its goals. If I had paid attention to this last detail, we would have saved some creation time, providing a few weeks to test the new and innovative flow. And finally, you need to create an environment of trust