3 Key Learnings from my 10+ years in Digital Product Design
In my 10+ years of product design experience, one of the best lessons I've learned about design isn't about craft. It's this: "Design is what you tolerate." - Karthi Subbaraman
As always, these insights are subjective. Here are three new perspectives on this lesson:
1. Don't settle for bad design decisions just because of timelines or sign-offs. Remember, design is iterative—embrace the iterative power to create something better within constraints.
If you don't: You are prioritising shipping and delivery over design.
2. Convincing stakeholders is an uphill battle. But here's a glimmer of hope: speak their language and influence them on the value of Design. I've faced instances where I failed to influence stakeholders and had to compromise. However, I learned that if you facilitate thinking it is useful for them to make better decisions in this context.
If you don't, you will learn to design by stakeholders and lose sight of your users' needs. Remember, you represent your users.
3. While visual design can be subjective, it must be presented to the decision-makers with restraint and options
.It should be backed by a considerable rational explanation so your stakeholders can see the thought process behind the work.
Please take my learnings with a pinch of salt. Context and, most importantly, my experience are not the same as yours. I'm here to only share my learnings from this quote that literally changed me. :)