2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44
Fighting for an idea is noble, but only up to a certain point. Mike Monteiro, design director at Mule Design and author of Design Is Work, answers the question of how to deal with a great idea that doesn't work in practice - hold on to it or let it go?
Design is the solution to a problem. Being a designer means constantly looking for problems that need to be solved (and there are always enough of them), and working until you get closer to the right result. Making the right decision means being able to reject the proposed idea if you see that it does not work.
You can love the design. At least that's the case for me. I hope you do too. But let's be honest, there is an incredible amount of frustration in this endeavor. We're chasing solutions all the time. We think they are great. We work tirelessly for a special moment that is worth all the disappointments. But most of the time, we miss our goal. It's hard to love what doesn't live up to expectations.
If you're going to love design, love the process of finding solutions. If you are going to love two things, the next must be to love the problems you have already solved. If you are going to love three things, love the people you are trying to help. Do not treat these people as consumers, unless you are trying to help heroin addicts.
But never fall in love with a possible option until you are sure that it is the solution to the problem.
It will break your heart. And worse, it hurts the people you are trying to help. When you pick up your vehicle from the workshop, you don't want the mechanic to convince you that the brakes are in order. You want them to actually be okay. If you design security measures, you don't want people to feel safe. You want to truly guarantee security.
Your job as a designer is to question all potential solutions until you have a firm grip on fact-based confidence. It doesn't matter whose idea it is, yours or someone else's. You should only be loyal to the people for whom you are solving the problem, not to the ideas. By the way, the people you help and the people who pay you are not the same thing.
It's hard. And it takes a lot of experience not to follow the lead of the heart. But it is possible. At Mule Design we do research. We interview people, we collect data, we study behavior, and so on. And only after that we begin to discuss possible solutions based on the collected information. And we can determine the value of the proposed solutions based on the research done. Then, and only then, can we allow ourselves to start thinking what this solution is.
If we start to come up with a solution before doing research, we will look for confirmation of it. We will begin to interpret the results of the study so that they confirm the correctness of the idea. This is called bias. And this is a frequent occurrence
So you got to that very special moment and came up with what you believed in? Rate the idea, ask colleagues to rate it. And even if the assessment of your favorite solution is not what you expected, understand that they are doing their job.
If colleagues find a flaw in your work, thank them! And then think if you can fix it.
If a coworker tells you that your idea is great, and is tactfully trying not to smash it to smithereens, chances are that the person is more interested in maintaining a good relationship with you than in helping you become a good designer.
Regretting sunk costs is a common mistake. If the decision is wrong, it doesn't matter how much time you spent on it. It doesn't matter that you've been working on it all weekend. It doesn't matter that you didn't go to watch a movie with your friends, but stayed at home and worked. Don't confuse wasting time with getting things done. Think of this time as a time spent gaining experience. Nobody can take that away from you.
Is your time worth more than the trust of people who expect you to solve the problem properly? Is your ego so big that you would rather provoke a dangerous situation, but do not admit that you were wrong?
If your decision is wrong, be honest with yourself. Kill him here and now. Kill him before he has a chance to pull the real people you are trying to help with him. Since presenting a solution that doesn't work to others is not only a failure, it is a loss of opportunity for those who needed it to work. This is unethical.
And the fight for an idea, not because it deserves it, but because you don't want to let it go, you don't want to admit that you were wrong, despite the evidence to the contrary - it's not a fight for good design, it's fanaticism.
Let go of the idea. Better to spend your time solving the problem than collecting the shards.
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