Improving Design … Design Is Everything

All new design begins in a non-conforming mind that questions some tenet of the conventional wisdom.

It’s not rocket science and everyone, no matter what your profession, comes to this realization: most everything is design and by design. So most of us need to focus on improving design skills.

So how do we define design? Design is conceiving and giving form to goods and services that address needs. The economic activity of design is central to the success of most companies and most activities.

You are design, the world around you is design- it’s that simple. And like everything else, you must continuously work on learning new things about design.

Thinking of design as a collection of decisions may facilitate that articulation.

So when we work on design, here are some things we recommend to clients to try out. They will help no matter your area of design.

Sketching ideas

Be prepared at the start of any design tasks with sketchpads, stickies, or a large amount of whiteboard space for everyone involved. Remember that every idea, good or bad should be briefly written or sketched out. Never imagine that you’ll simply remember the important things that were said. Otherwise, three days later you’ll be scratching your head trying to figure out how you could forget all those great ideas.

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that brainstorming is purely for the boring informational stuff, it can also be a valuable tool for hammering out visual themes, making interface improvements, and even experimenting with business models.

As you’re starting a project, be sure to bring lots of scratch paper, especially if a whiteboard is not available. As someone throws out an idea, encourage everyone to quickly sketch out what it might look like. Misinterpretations can strangely enough work in your favor at this stage. If someone throws out an idea to four people who all interpret it very differently, it quickly becomes five ideas! Never assume that just because you were the originator of an idea that you’ll be the best person to bring it to life. Instead, see how others can improve or rethink the concept.

Consider these ideas: Video Content … How to Employ YouTube Videos Creatively

Inspiration sources

We have found that the best designers we’ve worked with understand that design is everywhere and inspiration can come from anywhere. There have been times where we have solved a checkout process because of walking through a restaurant and sitting down. All of a sudden your mind is thinking, Oh, I would have handled the service part of this a little bit better. They are obviously different entities but you can correlate and pull certain elements together. It’s just knowing that design is everywhere and you can get that inspiration at any time if you really look for it. We love to surf the web for different topics outside what we are working on. And then try different ideas, in different ways, and in different applications.

Open-Mindedness

In doing design you definitely need to be remain open-minded. Don’t reject ideas out of hand. You never know when you will be able to connect that idea with another one for an additional idea. Or else find a new application for an old, lower value idea.

Design collaboration

Collaboration is the ultimate, the number one priority in any design work, in our opinion. We have open brainstorm sessions where we discuss the issues going on and throw up ideas. You get all this great feedback and you can bring it back and soak it in and determine what the next steps might be. We are big on trying to talk it through because otherwise your projects just aren’t as good. The more you collaborate the better the design. Hands down.

Widen your network

Two heads are better than one, and three heads are better than two. That is especially true with people from diverse fields of work. New ideas can be built upon old ones. And ideas can always be moved from one field to another. When you’re out of ideas, try talking to others in different areas. You get feedbacks from them and from there you make your existing ideas better. It’s a learning process as you experiment with new designs. Remember to stay humble and receptive to criticism.

Work with a mix of disciplines

Rethink your physical work space … it’s much more important than you’d think. Minimize separation and walls. Mix up your disciplines. For example, on product teams we have engineers, designers, a product manager, a project manager, QA, and backend guys all right next to each other. It is more like a mobile working experience where people can move around and collaborate and work anywhere instead of being confined.

Creative roadblocks

Listen to different talks … like from Ted or YouTube on a diverse set of topics. For example, we recently listened to a scientist speak about helping people remember numbers and how to think. He explained how inspiration usually comes when we are in the car, or the shower, or somewhere trivial. He told us that our subconscious mind is much stronger than our conscious mind. Great ideas on tapping into the subconscious mind.

So if you’re working on a project and get into it a little bit, take a break, throw it to the back of your mind and work on something else.

One of the reasons why you are facing designers’ block could be that you’re too used to doing things in a standard manner. No, not just in the area of design, but also possibly in other areas of your life. In other words, your mind becomes rigid with habits and your creativity dies away.

A lifestyle that is too systematic is not the ideal environment to nurture creativity. You need to do something different every now and then to stimulate your mind.

Remember … whoever tries the most stuff usually wins. So stay curious and keep refreshing your new sources.

Mike Schoultz is a digital marketing and customer service expert. With 48 years of business experience, he consults on and writes about topics to help improve the performance of small business. Find him on G+, Facebook, Twitter, Digital Spark Marketing, and LinkedIn.