Design Advice

Challenge yourself to explore many different possibilities, even when the solution is obvious. This advice was given to me by an old boss, and something I always try to practice in my process. Sometimes the answer feels so clear, it almost feels like a waste of time to try to consider anything else. But pushing perspectives can really go a long way in strengthening creativity and articulating a strong design solution.

"Read your writing out loud. If it sounds good, it is good. Well, not really, but it's not a bad start." – My college creative writing professor.

Some of the best advice I have been given can be summarised by a quote from Eric Ries: “The only way to win is to learn faster than anyone else.” As designers, we are always trying to solve problems for our users, but until we learn what works for our users we cannot hope to solve these problems. Create hypotheses and then find the fastest way to validate them. Sometimes it's user research, sometimes it's an AB test — take the path that gets you the answers to your questions fastest. The faster you learn what works for your users the sooner you can solve their problems.