WHAT’S A DESIGNER?

“Bring in the creatives!”

When most people think of designers, they picture something exotic. A rule-breaker! A free spirit. They may picture Edna Mode from The Incredibles forcing her newly designed suits on a freaked-out Elastigirl. They may see Stan from Mad Men lighting a joint in the office. Or Will Ferrell’s character Mugatu from Zoolander. And god bless those of you imagining Darrin Stephens from Bewitched, who was unable to solve a client’s problem without the intervention of forbidden wife-magic.

Sometimes designers look like this, but mostly in movies. In real life we’d find this person incredibly irritating to work with.

We’ve been trained to think of designers as people who are a few cards short of a tarot deck, out in left field, creatures of instinct. They don’t follow rules. They accidentally set conference rooms on fire. And they only work when inspiration rolls up for a visit. Even worse, we believe that those are the qualities we should value and seek out in designers.

The myth of inspiration has a strong hold on designers and their clients. Both share in its perpetuation. (Can you imagine letting any other employee get away with only working when inspired? I hope not.)

The world of advertising, whose list of sins runs deep, has sinned most by branding these people as creatives, which the world of web design sadly adopted as its own. Calling someone a creative doesn’t elevate. It marginalizes. The label excludes designers from conversations about strategy, product definition, business goals, and metrics. It sets them apart from other employees as people who aren’t bound by the same expectations and requirements. It diminishes their opportunity to be seen as people capable of analytical, rigorous thought.

Sometimes designers look like bouncers and the guy that pumps your gas in Oregon. And that’s ok. They get shit done.

Saddest of all, people who went on to become designers grew up with those stereotypes and adopted them as their own. This is why you have people self-identifying as creatives. Coming into work when they please. Skipping requirements meetings. Blathering about inspiration while the money you’re paying them is flushed down the toilet, along with your deadlines.

And here I am telling you to hire these people.

Except I’m not. I want to redraw your mental picture of a designer and tell you what you should expect of them.

I’m here to say it’s okay to tell them to take off the stupid panda hat at work.

A good designer behaves like a skilled professional with analytical, persuasive, creative, and social skills. You can count on them to solve problems, present good work in a timely manner, be accountable, and argue from an informed point of view.

Designers aren’t artists. Design isn’t self-expression.

Nothing special or magical marks design. While designers come in many flavors, some bitter and some with a lemony aftertaste, don’t tolerate any of those flavors if the designers don’t behave professionally.

Let’s explore the vast world of designers and learn more about what they do and what you should expect:

Designers make things

This is probably the part you already associate with designers: the making of the thing. Yes, with the mockups (don’t call them mocks!), the layouts, and the coding. I won’t spend too much of your time here, except to emphasize that the reason this part works is all the attention to the parts that come before it: the research and the strategy. Understanding the problem.

Sitting down to execute is the easy part if you did the prep work.

Designers solve problems

Once upon a time, I did a research interview with a young designer who worked at a big company. I asked him at what point he got involved in projects. He told me that the product team, the management team, and the engineering team — basically everyone but him — got together and defined the product strategy. They wrote product specs, made wireframes, did most everything but tie a bow on the project, and handed it over to “design.” I asked this kid, and he was a good kid, why he didn’t attend those meetings. He said he wasn’t invited. (Small aside to any designer reading: don’t wait for an invite. Get your ass in there. Your boss may not even know it’s important for you to be present. I’m about to tell them, but part of your job is knowing where you need to be and telling people you need to be there.)

You hire designers to help solve your problem. To do so to the best of their abilities, designers need to take part in conversations where everyone discusses the problem and bandies about solutions. This helps them better understand what you’re asking them to do, and it puts people in the room who may have a different approach to the problem. You want as many diverse points of view as possible. If you’re worried about bringing a designer into the room because you’re batting around half-baked ideas, that’s exactly why the designer should be there: to throw in ingredients you wouldn’t think of and keep you from fully baking the bad ones.

Design starts with understanding the problem and helping to set the strategy. Not having your designer participate in the problem solving is like a restaurant investor handing the daily menu to the chef and saying, “Make this.” Neither of us would want to eat at that restaurant.

And, yes, if you have a designer who hasn’t asked to be involved as early as possible, you should be a little worried.

Designers advocate for your users

Your success depends on how well your product or service meets the needs of the people who use it, and how many people you get to use it. Good designers understand this. They find out who your customers are, how they behave, and how they think. Some designers even create personas to better represent these people so it’s easier to plan and design with them in mind.

I once worked with a designer who bought frames with photos of strangers at thrift stores. She stashed the photos in a box under her desk. When she started a project, she flipped through them until she found people she felt matched the users we were designing for. She kept those frames on her desk for the project’s duration to remind her that she wasn’t designing for herself. She was designing for them.

Every good designer is a bit of a method actor. We try to design through the eyes of the people we anticipate using the product. Does this mean we disregard your business needs? Au contraire! We make sure that your business needs match the needs of the people you’re trying to win over. Ultimately, that’s the best thing we can do for your business.

Designers work well with others

It’s almost impossible to design anything by yourself. It’s also stupid. You improve everything when you talk to people with different viewpoints, experiences, and skill sets. The myth of the solitary genius is just that: a myth.

Design is a team sport. And a team with cohesive chemistry always beats a team with a few prima donna superstars. Even if the solitary genius manages to squeeze out a couple of good projects before everyone tires of their attitude, the door will eventually close on how long people are willing to put up with them.

A designer is a communication professional. When I start a project I get to know everyone on the client’s team. I learn what they do, how they tick, how best to communicate with them; I develop relationships and trust. Projects take a while. You’ll work together for a long time. You have information in your head that’s crucial to the project’s success, and I’m guessing you may not be quick to give it to someone who doesn’t treat you with respect and kindness.

You don’t have to put up with the solitary genius or the asshole genius.

Designers have reasons

Designers need to be able to explain decisions in a rational manner and tie them to project goals. By letting you know how their solutions relate to research findings. By backing up their decisions with quotes from user interviews. By using data and analytics where applicable. They have to explain their decisions and do so convincingly. They have to sell it.

A designer who can’t explain their rationale is useless — open to the whims and desires of everyone around them. If they don’t understand their own decisions, they can’t advocate for your users or replicate their choices across projects. They can’t argue. Every designer in the world needs to be able to answer: “Why did you do that?” If their reply is, “I can change it,” you’re absolutely fucked.

“I think it looks good” is not a rationale. It’s a red flag.

Designers take feedback and criticism

A solid, thoughtful rationale also nicely sets the table for good feedback. If your designer says they made a decision based on research and best practices, they’re doing their job.

But a designer who says they were “inspired” to do something opens the door for a stakeholder to give feedback that’s just as subjective. Whim begets whim. Now you’ve got a roomful of people arguing about their favorite colors.

But isn’t inspiration important? Absolutely. Remember the scene in Apollo 13 where the astronauts cobbled together random parts from around the ship to make an air purifier? Using everything at your disposal to meet a goal is inspiration. Throwing shit together and hoping it sticks isn’t.

A designer confident in their decisions is confident enough to listen to criticism. They’re showing you results based on systematic thought not a magical moment. People are more open to their math being wrong than having their fairy tales spoiled.

I’ve gone into presentations convinced that I was about to show a great solution. Fifteen minutes in, someone on the client team says, “You forgot to take x into account.” And holy shit. They’re right. At that point, my job is to shift gears and get everyone involved in solving for that case. And thank the awesome individual who uncovered it.

My friend Jared Spool, whom I’ve now quoted twice, says, “The best designers are passionate about design, but dispassionate about their own designs.” It’s a good line. I wish I could take credit for it. (I eventually will.)

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. When you point out an obvious problem to a designer and they keep fighting, they’re no longer fighting for the work’s quality. They’re fighting for their ego. A good designer is confident enough to fight for what’s right and acknowledge what’s wrong.

“The best designers are passionate about design, but dispassionate about their own designs.” — Mike Monteiro

Of course, you should make sure the criticism focuses on the work, not the person presenting the work. (We’ll go into how to give good feedback in Chapter 4.)

How do you know if you have a good or bad designer? Let’s find out.

RED FLAGS TO LOOK FOR IN DESIGNERS

Beware of designers who’ve only worked by themselves.

A designer who’s worked alone only knows what they know. But a designer who’s worked with other designers, taking in everything they had to teach, knows what they all know and isn’t afraid to tell you what they need. A young kid who’s the sole designer in a company founded by and filled with engineers or developers has a harder time learning how to make the case for their craft. They don’t work to convince someone of a point, because they never feel like they have the backup. They’re a pair of hired hands.

Beware of designers who wait for you to define their job.

The designer is the expert in what you hired them to do and what they need to get that done. After all, you hired them because they’re uniquely qualified to do this. Good designers empower themselves to do their jobs. If you’re in a situation where your designer asks for a lot of direction, you may need to remind them that you expect them to take charge of the things under their purview. Your designer should come to you for feedback that evaluates their proposed solution — but not direction, which asks you to come up with the solution itself. That’s what you hired them for.

Beware designers who limit themselves to things they enjoy doing.

Let’s be honest. No one in their right mind enjoys a requirements gathering meeting, but it helps get the job done. Anything that helps you do your job is part of your job. Combing through that information — and sharing in your teammates’ pain of attending said meeting — makes the job’s enjoyable parts more fruitful.

Beware a designer who doesn’t ask questions.

I mean “Why are we doing it this way?” type questions, not “How do we do it?” questions. A designer, heck, everyone in your company, should be curious about why decisions are made the way they are. A good designer takes every decision apart to see if they can put it back together better. It’s in every good designer’s nature to improve what they’re handed.

Beware a designer who doesn’t argue from a strong point of view.

Once a designer is convinced that a specific choice is right, they should be willing to argue their position. They should also be open-minded enough to be proven wrong, but only if the opposing argument is strong enough to persuade them. Slight pushback shouldn’t change their mind.

Beware a designer who wants you to like them more than they want to do good work.

Every designer has an aha moment in their career when they realize they’re designing work the client hopes to see instead of work they know is right but needs a harder conversation to get the client’s approval. Until they have that moment, they’re not giving you their best work.