5 mantras I grew up with as a product designer
Few mantras I was taught by my mentors during my initial days of product design journey, that I follow to this day. It has helped me see clear through the fog of balancing old wants/habits with new needs/skills as I transitioned from graphic design to product design. Some have aged like a fine wine.
1/ Detachment from Designs: Do not marry your design
Sounds cliche, but designers often fall in a trap of loving their creations, specially during the start -- the 'craft' we all love to call. However, in the realm of product design, personal attachment can impede progress -- for you and the team. This detachment leads to open collaboration, faster growth though open-to-feedback mindset and multiple perspectives.
Pro tip: Build/design something that you love else you'll end up hating what you do.
2/ Continuous Evolution: Design is never complete
Graphic design often involves one-off projects, while product design thrives on continuous improvement (or changes from multiple stakeholders who aren't aligned with each other). Iterating, enhancing, and incorporating user feedback with business goals are the heartbeats of product design. The fun part, design industry is evolving, whether you can keep up with it or not. AI and human.
Pro tip: Always look for way to improve, and it doesn't always have to be UI.
3/ Design Thinking as a Compass: Apply Design Thinking when required
Design Thinking is a problem-solving and innovation methodology. While it focuses on empathizing with the users to define and ideate on problems, then designing, testing, and iterating on solutions, which can be found not ideal for hyperfast market (startups/founders, I hear you), it is also highly adaptive. Meaning, the problem-solving approach helps you find clearer path through collaboration and emphathetic first principle thinking, if you can tweak its underlying principles.
Pro tip: Do not blindly follow any methodologies. Fit the best practices with your requirements.
4/ Validate Ideas through Testing: Do not trust all the ideas — test, validate, and iterate
Amidst a flurry of ideas, it can be overwhelming and the path to the right (what even is right?) solution is often elusive. You are surrounded by requirements from multiple stakeholders, deadlines and your 'creative-innovative' solutions. The truth is, it is never the case for 'validate-with-the-users-first' -- you're building in the ever-changing market for people who, in most cases, know what they want only when they see it. You'll need to be quick in finding the better direction. This can happen only after you build/design things because that achors what's next for you: learnings and improvements.
Pro tip: The more you practice, the quicker you figure out.
5/ Design for People: Product design is not art — it’s not for self-satisfaction
Product design transcends personal artistic expression. For a starter, it's necessary to understand the differences between other design disciplines from product design (art vs design / graphic vs product). While the whole design industry is obsessing over 'taste' (what is taste?), it can be challenging to not have a flair of 'personal artistic expression' in things we build. Yes, we thrive on making users' lives easier and that's where our self-satisfaction lies. Whatever you're doing, design for people (or AI?)-- who knows? that 'people' could be you.
Pro tip: Learn the foundations. Everything you build on top of that reflects and shapes your identity and personality.