There are often new recruits who can’t figure out the difference between a designer and other positions, such as a product manager. After answering a few times, I summarized the differences in two aspects, which can be briefly summarized as: skills and positioning.
“Skills” refers to the designer’s ability to master the ability not possessed by other roles in the project-drawing. This generalization is a bit simple and rude. In fact, the professional ability of a designer is much broader than the content covered by the word drawing. But “drawing a picture” is indeed a term that is easier for everyone to understand (when explaining what I do to the elders in the family, if they don’t understand me, they will say it is drawing, and they will seem to have a sudden sigh, and finally hear one I want an understandable answer). With the evolution of human-machine interface from command line to graphical visualization, and then to the touch screen era where you can touch anywhere, users have higher and higher requirements for “beauty” and “interaction”, and the ability and value of designers are also increasing. Valued.
The designer’s “positioning” develops as the user experience is valued. A very important feature of Internet products is that they are free. Chat is free, search is free, games are free, and antivirus is free. Free is certainly a good thing for users, but free also means that the cost of user migration is very low, especially when the product homogeneity is serious. A free game, if a charge is announced suddenly, and there are similar games on the market, the result is likely to be a large-scale loss of users. Unlike traditional industries, under a free business model, user stickiness and loyalty are critical to products; user experience is an important factor in stickiness. So with the vigorous development of the Internet industry, user experience designers have stood up as user experience advocates.
That doesn’t mean that other roles are not responsible for the user experience. In an excellent team, from project manager to development test, every member will work hard and be responsible for the final experience. But characters other than designers will face the dilemma that the ass decides the head. For example, in addition to user experience, product managers must also take into account business value and boss needs; development must consider implementation costs and technical constraints; operations must be responsible for revenue and conversion rates. The designer’s position is more pure, and there is no contradiction and conflict in his own position: standing on the user’s standpoint, insisting on the value of user experience, always reminding the team of what users want; at the same time responsible for the implementation of design details.
This leads to the topic, the conflict between designers and other roles in a project team is essentially caused by this level of positioning difference. (Development: It is obvious that the functions are implemented here, and the designer is always changing, what do you want to do!) Based on this kind of positioning conflict, the designer cannot simply position himself on the execution level. Proactive communication must be used to promote the landing and realization of user experience. This puts high demands on the communication of Internet designers.
In actual work, we also spend a lot of time every day in various meetings and discussions. The efficiency and effectiveness of communication directly affect the quality of the final output. But when we look at the final work results, communication as a process is not so intuitive and difficult to evaluate and measure. I tried to list some mistakes that are easy to make in design communication, and summarized 7 experiences, hoping to help students who are also thinking about these issues. The following mainly takes the conflicts between product managers and designers as examples.
1. Avoid talking with ducks
Both parties are talking about their own reasons, but do not listen to what the other side is saying; or because the two parties in the communication cannot speak the true thoughts, the communication stays on the surface and cannot be deepened. In both cases, communication efficiency is very low, and it is difficult to reach consensus and get results.
For example, I once saw a product manager arguing with a designer. One was talking about operations and the other was talking about design specifications. They were all trying to tell each other how to do this from a professional point of view. . The discussion could hardly go on because no one would give in. This kind of communication efficiency is very low. The two sides are not talking about problems at the same level at all. Designers don’t understand operation, and product managers don’t understand design.
This situation is more common in newcomers, because newcomers just enter the work position and only understand their own profession and work content, but do not understand the goals and positions of other members of the team, and it is easy to talk about the same thing. When you find that what you and the other person are talking about is not on the same level, it is an effective way to find an experienced colleague to help you communicate.
Another situation is also very common, that is, one of the parties in the communication is unwilling or does not know how to say what they really think. For example, a product manager must change something from the designer. It is useless for the designer to explain it. I invite an experienced colleague to see it, and I think there is no need to change it. At the end of the communication, I found out that it was the boss of the product who said that it would be changed, and the product manager agreed to the change in front of the boss, so he ran to the designer to make the change. If the product manager can tell the designer from the beginning that this demand comes from XX, I insisted because I promised XX that it can definitely be changed, and the entire communication does not need to take so long, because as long as this XX Also get involved in the discussion together and it can be done.
Designers need to master more cross-professional knowledge, understand the positions of different positions; learn to speak their own true thoughts, and dig out the true meaning behind the other party’s statements. Only when the design is on the same level can we communicate more efficiently.
2. Don’t fall into the details prematurely
A good product must be a product with details, and a good product designer must also be a person who is sensitive and picky about details. But the details also mean that more effort is required. In order to make the investment cost-effective, we must grasp the time point of cutting into the details. The principle of making a product is similar to drawing. It is a process from roughness to fineness by first drafting, then drawing lines, and then coloring. When the draft is not finished, it is very difficult to modify the overall composition if a part of the color is added first, or you have to change it and repaint it.
The reason is simple, but in actual operation, even experienced designers sometimes fall into details unconsciously. For example, there is a meeting where the positioning of the product needs to be determined. Occasionally talked about a legacy design problem, so it began to argue fiercely, until the end of the meeting did not discuss the results. Is this design problem important? It should be said that it is also important, but should it be discussed at a meeting to determine product positioning, and should these people be involved in the discussion?
3. Seriously you lose
The information held by each member of the team is asymmetrical, and design solutions are often judgements made after synthesizing this information. So no matter who proposed the plan, as the discussion deepens, it may prove to be wrong, or there may be a better solution.
Everyone in the discussion will have their own opinions for or against. I have met some people, and I will be very excited to defend my opinions and arguing with others what is right. He will fall into his own thinking, unable to jump out, even sometimes he feels that something is wrong, and he still insists on saving face. This kind of people often like to insist, and it is really tiring to determine the plan with them…
Everyone will defend their ideas, but we don’t have to defend them like we defend dignity. Experienced designers will control their emotions and express their positions calmly and surely; when they find themselves wrong, they can move in the right direction without losing face. Designers who do better also know how to control other people’s emotions and settle discussions in a relaxed atmosphere. Whenever someone is very excited to express, I will tell him with a smile, you are serious.
4. Empathy
Internet classmates know that you have to look at the problem from the user’s point of view, and it is best to become white in one second. This is called empathy. But empathy is actually a typical way of knowing easy and hard to do. Not to mention that it will become less white in a second, it would be good if it can become less white in an hour. When doing design communication, whether you can communicate with empathy also directly affects the quality of communication.
There is such an example. A thought about a design solution for a night, and came over very happily the next day to talk to B. B said that this was not possible, I had already thought about it. Then the two quarreled with a strong smell of gunpowder. On the surface, it seems that the two people are arguing about the plan, but it is actually a battle for dignity. A’s thinking for a night was overthrown by B in a few seconds. What B denied was not A’s plan, but A’s IQ. A doesn’t understand why he is so angry, he just wants to smash him.
In this example, B can try to think about it the other way around. If A denies himself in an instant, how would he react, and he can understand the crux of the problem. The enlightenment of this example is that we should never deny the other party for the first time, let me think about it. Even if you have a judgment on right and wrong in the first place, you should delay it first, give yourself some time to think carefully about the rationality of the plan, and then give a reply.
Being able to think about what others think can really greatly help our daily communication. But just like turning white in one second, it requires a lot of experience to reach the state of being able to retract and release freely. But I still have a suggestion that can help communicate better. That is, when one’s emotions fluctuate, you can intuitively express your feelings to the other party instead of attacking defensively. For example, when the other party says that your design is ugly, you can say “Aesthetics is subjective, everyone has their own criteria for judging, but this design still makes me very frustrated if you think it is ugly” instead of saying “Where is this ugly? Now, you can’t understand you with such a high-class design, so you can draw a picture for me to see.” The expression of the former intuitively conveys your feelings to the other party, making it easier for the other party to “empathize” with you, while the latter can only make communication worse.
5. Acknowledge that “form follows function”
Some “pursuing” designers often make the mistake that form is greater than function.
As designers, we must understand that although interface performance is very important, form follows function and cannot be compromised in pursuit of form. Easy to use and easy to use, are built on the basis of usefulness. When the function and interface performance conflict, the interface performance should be compromised to the function. For example, if you want to design a business application, if you have to make the interface full of fun in order to reflect the designer’s sense of accomplishment, it violates the user’s usage scenario; in turn, in the game, the interface cannot be designed to be boring. Designers must be able to control the urge to express themselves, carefully understand product positioning and user scenarios, and then make good designs.
Form follows function. In other words, it means function restricts form. The design is to dance with shackles. Some time ago, I listened to Nico’s sharing of Guangyan. I like his definition of designer very much. His definition is: a designer is a person with a method. Here is a quote and an attribute. The so-called awesome designer refers to a person who can still use elegant methods to solve problems under various restrictions.
Designers need to build up their internal recognition of this concept and transform it into communication, which makes it easier to reach agreement with the product team.
6. Introduce foreign aid
Even experienced designers will inevitably encounter a stalemate in communication, and no one can convince anyone. At this time, if you are good at introducing external sounds, it will be very helpful to break the deadlock.
Maybe we can put aside the dispute for now, go back and report the data, and then look at the data in a week before making a decision? Or randomly find n people around who have nothing to do with the project, do an A/B test on the current solution, and resolve disputes with a quick and lightweight test? Or find an authority you can trust to give some advice? Take a look at how experienced colleagues who are aside from the matter think about this issue.
Involving more people can help us look at the problem more comprehensively and objectively, and get out of the limitations of looking at the problem from the “I” point of view. When there is a stalemate, the intervention of a third party also leaves a certain amount of space for the parties. It is easier for the parties to reach an agreement after taking a step back and calmly looking at the problem.
7. Teaching and learning
What kind of teammates will meet in your career. Of course the gods must be well grasped, but the pigs must be tempted.
A good designer must be an eager and tireless person. In addition to design, he actively uses the usual communication opportunities to understand and learn cross-professional knowledge. When you can understand how the development is achieved, you will not design a design draft that the development cannot achieve; when you can understand what the product is ideal for, the design return rate will definitely be greatly reduced.
A good designer must also be a good teacher, subtly affecting the ideas of his teammates around him. Bring your own design ideas and aesthetic taste to the entire team. When team members agree with the design concept and their aesthetic tastes, many of the above communication problems will not become a problem. Whether it will “teach”, or whether it has influence, is a watershed between senior designers and ordinary designers. Influential designers can exert their own value to a greater extent, and then influence the results of the project.
Strictly speaking, Article 7 has nothing to do with communication itself. Continuous learning and good at summarizing and sharing should be an essential quality for every good designer. On this basis, influencing the team and enhancing consensus are the root causes of communication problems resolved.
