Removing ego from design

One of the most difficult aspects of any web design project is reconciling the goals of the designer with the goals of the audience. (And by "designer," I am including everyone involved in the design process, including the client, the design agency, etc.) This is so difficult because the goals of the designer include so many facets -- the client wants to get more money coming in, the agency wants to please the client to get more work in the future, the creative director wants to wow other creative types with his/her vision and maybe win an award, etc. And amidst all of that as well are political power plays, internal arguments, and some "selective hearing" when it comes to research and statistics that don't support their individual goals. (I speak of no particular agency or experience here -- these are accumulated observations.)

The whole rigmarole can be a bit exhausting and it is very easy to get caught up in the "designer" side of things. It all seems quite serious - to step back and think about the fact that people can get into shouting matches over a single word on a website (I've seen it happen) - I don't know, it seems like the perspective is off. People take these battles very personally, and fight for things because they want them, or because it means something to them, and it's easy to forget that all that really matters is whether or not somebody going to your website is going to have a good experience.

This is why I've found it so valuable, in my own work, to start viewing the work I do as completely separate from who I am. Much of what I design is based on research - knowing what works and what doesn't - but there is not enough research in the world to make every decision foolproof. If something was a subjective call, or I designed based on a hunch, and someone takes issue, I'll explain my viewpoint but recognize that if I don't have an empirical study to back it up, it's really just an opinion.

In addition, when working in a group environment, letting go of ego can make the brainstorming and overall creative process a lot more open. An idea prefaced with "this may be stupid, but..." could end up being the best idea of the day, while one that someone thinks is surefire could be quickly tossed out as the details are thought out further. When ego is involved, the initial "stupid" idea might never be brought up for fear of a negative reaction, while the "surefire" idea might be fought for tooth-and-nail to the detriment of better options. Letting go of ego - where you perceive comments about your idea as a comments about you - switches the emphasis to the ideas, not the people.

This ends up being quite liberating in the long run, because not only does it make it easier to edit and adapt your design as more learnings come in, it also makes you focus more on what will best serve the end user. And in the end, that's really the truest measure of a successful design.

Objectivity is a dying art

It's hard not to notice, as the US moves into the final days of election season, how increasingly polarized a lot of people are. Making an objective assessment of anything seems to have gone out of style, and I think it's to our great detriment.

This blog isn't about politics, but I think this concept of turning every decision into a battle has carried over into many aspects of our lives, including management and design. Take, for example, a designer who believes strongly in simplicity and reducing clutter (as I do). You'd think the best way to put together a recommended design in that instance would be to analyze what's needed and suggest a minimalist design that still offers all the necessary functionality. But I've seen situations where, expecting push back from a client to add more, the minimalist-leaning designer ends up recommending something that is even more scaled back than they believe it should be. If their design were approved right off the bat, it wouldn't even be what they want. They expect an equally opposing force to fight them, and hope that they land somewhere that looks like their actual recommendation.

The end result is that rather than working as teams to accomplish the best work possible, each faction takes the core of their suggested beliefs and recommends an "extremist" version of it, believing that it will be watered down over the iteration process to hopefully land somewhere close to what they really think is best. Everyone becomes an advocate for a particular strong viewpoint, and the end result is not so much a happy compromise as it is a series of concessions. We deliberately don't look at things objectively because we think, "well, if I'm objective, and the other person isn't, I'll lose so much ground that my stance will be lost." We turn off our objectivity, and sometimes don't even know why we're fighting for things anymore, except that it seems like it's the side we should be on. Sometimes the other side does have a good idea -- a better one than you had -- and we should embrace those as learning opportunities rather than as "giving in."

This process doesn't usually end with a happy solution. It ends with something everyone feels moderately comfortable enough not to continue fighting over.

I don't have any particular proposition for how to change this, beyond just trying to foster objectivity more in your own work. I try to look at my own designs and ask, "is this really the best way?" Sometimes I'll do a full design on something and scrap the whole thing because, after stepping back, I realize my initial assumptions about the best design were off track. I try to listen to critical feedback and objectively accept when that feedback is right. If I love something, but everyone who sees it is confused by it, it's irresponsible of me to ignore that -- I try to figure out why my instinct was off and how I can adjust to avoid making that mistake again.

I'm not perfect at this by any means, but I do value objectivity and think it's to everyone's benefit to be a little more willing to stand back and take a critical look through someone else's eyes. You might see something you never thought of before.