Product Design Manifesto
It has been nearly a decade since I started working with digital Product Design. At first, I thought it was going to be something temporary just to pay the bills, but before the allure of blending creativity with challenging problems won me over and hasnāt stopped me everĀ since.
Throughout this journey, many things have changed, especially the way I perceive this field and the people that are part of it. Relationships, experiences, and even obstacles have helped me to develop a set of guiding principles that have become a constant to keep moving forward, so itās about time I share these withĀ others.
1. Quality overĀ quantity
During my time at the university, I was taught that doing hundreds of explorations was the best path to be creative. Itās certainly useful when youāre in the divergence phase of the creative process is necessary, but what they donāt teach you is that you need to identify when quality should come before quantity.
I canāt pinpoint the exact moment when it became my personal motto, but it has been helpful in many different facets of my journey: Product Design outputs, team composition, and even time, they all benefit from prioritizing quality. The trickiest part is not forfeiting quantity, but pursuing quality in everything youĀ do.
2. Itās ok not knowing everything
As naĆÆve as it may sound, during the first couple of years of my career I thought I had tons of experience and knew a lot, but boy was I wrong. The more I realized I had a whole world to discover, the more I feared I wasnāt going to be able to capture everything, but I learned to apply my own principle and accept that quality was more important than understanding every single piece about thisĀ field.
Moreover, I learned to appreciate the feeling of learning new things for the very first time, accepting feedback from others, and being intentional about my learning in the last couple ofĀ years.
3. Learn something new everyĀ day
Keeping up with the learning topic, and becoming proficient at something doesnāt happen overnight. Instead, it occurs in small doses of learning moments on a day-to-day basis. One could argue that by reading a book in a day youāve grasped a concept, and most of us donāt spend our weekends devouring entire books in 24 hours orĀ less.
Thatās why I love the online expression āToday I Learnedā, shortened as TIL, because learning can happen at any moment, with any person, and at any place of your day, you just have to be humble and curious to take itĀ in.
4. Research, research, research
Itās interesting how when youāre working in development with an agency model, you get exposed to a wide array of unknowns in addition to your own craft. Iāve been completely new to markets like basketball operations, fintech, and data quality, but every time it all started the same way: doing research.
Learning from subject matter experts definitely helps to speed up the process of gaining understanding, but you shouldnāt depend solely on that. With each new project or feature take that as an opportunity to do your due diligence with UX Research and understand the fundamental concepts.
Youāre not only expected to discuss Product Design in isolation, it should be applied to the context of the product and its business to drive decisions.
5. Keep it consistent
This principle unconsciously brings a smile to my face for a small reason: it became an association with me by others I was workingĀ with.
During my time as a Product Designer for Miami Heat, I had to deal with many moving parts and stakeholders with a deep understanding of the business. Every decision would impact the business at scale, and discussions were crucial to keeping moving forward, so I got into the habit of putting emphasis on consistency to ensure things never got out ofĀ control.
Before I knew it, some of them started to say āā¦ for consistencyās sake, as Laura would sayā on conversations I wasnāt even part of. I gladly took that with me to apply it intentionally elsewhere, which led me to my next principle.
6. Modularity, flexibility, and scalability
Most designers focus on aesthetics at the beginning of their careers. I know I did, but drop shadows and smooth interactions donāt make successful products that change peopleāsĀ lives.
Systems Thinking is one of the most critical skills any Product Designer should develop, yet it is often ignored and barely touched while deepening our skillset. With good System Thinking, your product has the modularity that allows for flexibility within existing features, which in turn enables scalability of the system as aĀ whole.
This skill can be applied to all levels of any product, like a navigation pattern, a checkout User Flow, or even the buying module as a whole. The key to all of this is not only about creating the right connections but doing it consistently to naturally scale as new business and user needs toĀ arise.
7. Whenever possible, beĀ prepared
When youāre a freelancer or consultant you have to learn to do everything on your own, which means you have to be prepared because nobody else will do it for you. All those meetings, scope definitions, and milestone deliverables depended solely on me, so when the time came and I had to collaborate with a team it was like second nature toĀ me.
As someone that values punctuality and responsibility, I wanted to lead by example with everything I was doing, like showing up on time to a meeting, being prepared to present in front of an audience, or facilitating a full week of Design Sprint for a client. Doing this consistently creates trust and reliability in you, and in turn, become a key player on theĀ team.
8. Communicate early andĀ often
Itās very common to find designers and developers throwing the classic āI know youāre always busy so I didnāt want to botherā to excuse the lack of communication, especially during their initial years. The truth is, I prefer the opposite and have healthy constant communication with my teammates, even more so now that weāre in a remote-first situation.
Asking -good- questions is a best practice that I teach to all junior designers because otherwise solutions are built on assumptions, and fixing them later will come at a higher cost. Many could fear that by asking they may seem dumb, but in a culture of psychological safety asking questions should happen early andĀ often.
9. The sum is better than theĀ parts
It must be clear by now how much Iāve learned to value being part of a team, with the keyword being ālearnedā. As Iāve shared in previous articles, I wasnāt used to being part of a team, I thought I could do everything on myĀ own.
It wasnāt until I started to see the outcomes of team collaboration that I noticed how powerful it is to be part of a team, each one of us bringing a different set of skills that will produce greater results than any of us could do on our own. Using music as an example: solos are great, but a tight band is always muchĀ better.
10. Itās justĀ work
This may seem contradictory but Wendy Johansson reminded me of this a couple of weeks ago during a fireside chat from ADPList: Itās justĀ work.
We could be the best designers in the world, but if you donāt take care of yourself first youāre not going to be capable of performing at your best. Thatās why Iāve learned to appreciate a good coffee with friends on the weekend, getaway vacations to disconnect, and even naps to recharge. Donāt wait until itās too late, take care of your well-being every singleĀ day.
I hope these principles can help you with your own journey, I know that Iāll remind myself of them and keep them at hand to guide me for many years toĀ come.
It's always more enjoyable to learn with others than to do it alone, so don't hesitate to reach out on Twitter @laurieesc if you want to continue the conversation. If this article has been helpful, share it with a friend!
Over and out,
Laura āļø