Wait, what?
A post about design?
I thought this is a blog about product management.
Hear me out. Yes this is a blog about product management, but don’t forget that a product manager’s job description lies at the intersection of various disciplines that exist in a product life cycle. And design is a crucial part of the cycle. Two products with similar pricing and function but different levels of design sophistication are almost guaranteed to have different market results. So yeah, design is kinda a big deal.
And no, i won’t even try to give the impression that i’m somewhat knowledgeable about design. I might be as clueless as you are about it. But i just want to share my experience with design concepts in general and what i learned about design principles that might come in handy (pun intended) when you are faced with situations that require knowledge about design.
My earliest experience about design starts when i worked as an assistant project manager in a property developer company. I was tasked with coordinating and communicating the project’s requirement to several of our in-house architects and designers. And as any product / project managers can attest, one of the staple challenges in our day-to-day job is managing the tension and the differences in priorities between departments.
I was naive at the time, so i didn’t really get the importance of such small details in the grand scheme of things
In my case it was between the business side and the designer’s side. The business people, i.e. the project manager wants everything to be done on time, and on budget, including the production of marketing materials, design mock-ups, etc. While the architects and designers, being the artists that they are, tend to have a more perfectionist approach towards their work and quality, not timeliness, is their priority.
There are several instances where those two interests clash, not necessarily resulting in an argument or quarrelling, mind you, just the good old tension in the office. Everybody still do their jobs professionally, but sometimes a few toes have to be stepped on, if you get what i’m saying. Being the assistant project manager i’m often placed smack in the middle of those tensions (had to do some of the toe stepping myself as well) and i remember one particular memorable experience:
The deadline for a design is closing in, it was already pass 6 pm, the office was almost empty except for the building security and two other people : me and a designer. I had to literally sit next to the designer and wait for him to finish his design for a brochure that needs to be printed and delivered the next day.
I thought to myself,
‘Well this sucks, but it shouldn’t be too bad, the design is almost finished so we should be ready for print soon’.
I was wrong, the designer spent quite some time (i don’t remember how long, but probably almost an hour) tweaking his design just to make it right. And when i say ‘tweaking’ don’t think like making major changes like changing background or adding images. No, the designer was trying to find the perfect combination for the smallest details. Things like which font feels right, the color and size, what hue of red goes perfectly with the border, what kind of alignment for the header he should use, etc.
I was naive at the time, so i didn’t really get the importance of such small details in the grand scheme of things, ‘people who see this brochure won’t be more inclined to buy the property if you change the font size to 12 as opposed to 10, for Pete’s sake’ is what i was trying really hard to not say to the designer’s face…
Now, before you make any conclusion, please know that i had a pretty good relationship with the designer at the time. And i didn’t have any hard feelings towards him at all. I did asked him, why did he obsessed over such details when we could really save time by making it ‘good enough’.
And at this point of the story, i wished i could tell you something like how his answer gave me such insight that it changed the way i see design from that time, but no, i don’t even remember his answer at the time, i remembered we finished the design eventually and it went to print and new tasks come pouring the next day as usual. The experience itself was not spectacular in any way, but that, along with other similar experiences like it, really formed the way i look at how a product is designed, be it visual or functional. You could say that from that moment, my opinion regarding design shifted considerably.
I came to notice the design quality in everything i see. Started to notice if there was a pattern or ‘trends’ that people are using. And even though i don’t consider myself a designer, i started trying to incorporate good design in my works as well, for example in the presentation slides i make.
If you ask me, ‘why do we bother with design?’ , i would give you two very simple reasons.
1. To make it looks good
2. To make it intuitive
The first reason is mainly concerned with visual aspects of the design process. It relates with imageries, typefaces, shapes and colours you use (or don’t). Those are usually used for things like posters, product packaging, billboards, advertising etc.
But the second reason, deals with a more holistic concept of design. Not just as things to see, but as things to be used, to be experienced. And this is where the nit-pickiness of the designer really started to make sense. For example it really matters whether a designer placed a button a few pixel higher or lower into the area reachable by our thumb or why a padding of 8px can make an element feels less claustrophobic.
Now, let’s close with some practical guidelines we should know when it comes to designing good or even great products.
1. Less is more. Start with the absolute essentials and add only when needed.
2. Put yourself in the user’s perspective. Often times, what is cool from the designers’ perspective is not relevant to the user’s experience.
3. Check the what other people are doing. It’s the best way to keep yourself updated on the latest trend as well as checking if it’s time for your team to update the design for your product.
You don’t need to be a designer to appreciate good design, because i believe that every one of us already has a sense for good design. We all are naturally drawn to it. We just need to have a catalyst to manifest that out more clearly. I hope this post will be such catalyst for you.