Careful with Labels

Be careful with labels.

I was at a communications conference that ended with a session on what "millennials" do and don't do, and what "they" believe and don't believe. There was wide agreement and only a little pushback among the ethnically diverse group, which ranged from 20-somethings to 70-somethings.

But...

If you replace "millennials" with "old folks" or "women" or "black people" soon someone will point out what's wrong with making sweeping statements or generalizations about a segment of the population.

Generalizations (which follow labeling - or other words, categorization or, really, the creation of models) are useful, it's true. But only when they inform your decision-making. When you let the labels define decision-making, you do a disservice to yourself and to the people you're trying to reach.

To rearrange the famous Box/Deming quote: Some models are useful; but all models are wrong.

Plans Laid Best

Dominoes will refuse to fall according to plan. Expect to improvise.

Ambitious promises

Your ambitions outstripping your abilities is not necessarily a bad situation. It offers you an incentive to stretch.

When your promises outstrip your abilities.... that's not so good. You don't want to disappoint people.

So be careful.

Honesty

The importance of honesty in design:

Beyond the obvious concerns of conflict of interest or complying with nondisclosure agreements, you have to be honest about your capabilities and your expectations - first with yourself, and then with clients and colleagues. The consequences of deceiving yourself or your partners in the effort, whatever that effort may be, can be quite serious. The professional, financial, legal, and personal costs are worth taking some care to avoid. Be able to assure yourself that every decision you make was made because it was the right thing to do - it's too easy to talk yourself into spending time (yours and the user's) and the client's money on an unnecessary feature that you personally liked or wanted experience with. Did you do it because it was right for this product at this time, or did you do it just because you could?

Perception, rightly or wrongly, is also a factor under this topic. Does your work seem honest? Designs that are unnecessarily complex give the impression that the designer is trying to conceal something - incompetence, perhaps. Conversely, a clean, simple approach is reassuring to both the user and the client - as well as being more effective. They should never wonder if what they're seeing is really what they're getting. Your work and your approach to the work should be simple and straightforward.

Reality? Check.

Every now and then, step back and ask: am I living in the real world?"

Are you sure?

The Box

The most important part of thinking outside the box... is the box. So, go get yourself a box, and get very familiar with it. Now you can let your mind step outside.

What do you see there?

Bias

Approval and validation need to start from within. But (one way or another) you're always going to be biased, aren't you?

Axis of Incompetence

When your client doesn't understand the product they've hired you to design - yet still wants to micromanage - and your management is too lazy or too frightened to set and enforce rational boundaries -- you are dealing with an axis of incompetence. Exit with as much dignity as you can.

Meetings

For some of us, the body language, tone of voice, and social dynamics of a traditional meeting provide context to the discussion. For others, these things are noise and distractions. Which describes you?

Yin and Yang... and Yin

Education and experience are each worth a great deal less without the other.

'Til It Fits

You should never have to "paint it 'til it matches, pound it 'til it fits." But sometimes you do.

Boxes

Setting limits - defining what you say "no" to - can seem like putting yourself in a box. View it, instead, as putting the things that you're not comfortable with in boxes. You can then maneuver around them or examine them more closely if you choose.

By sequestering them, quarantining them, putting these jobs/projects/conditions under glass - you are being both honest and wise. Few situations are worse than taking a job you you don't want. Either you or the client - and probably both - will be disappointed.

So set your rules and stick to them. When an opportunity arises that is on your "no" list, be clear (with yourself, at least) that it's not the type of thing you normally do.

You can always give it a second look. Remember - you're not in the box.

Your Word Matters

Of course your word matters to your clients and colleagues - while managers, marketers, and those who hold the budget can make idle promises, it's somewhat ironic that anyone with a foot in the creative realm really has to take care to deliver on what he (or she) says. Designers, producers, writers, artists - we are often thought of as being less grounded, less disciplined, than the suits.
But they expect us to deliver - and that's right, and that's fine.

The point today is different, but no less important. The point is to keep your promises to yourself. If you swore you'd never do X, then make sure you don't. If you said to yourself Y and Z would happen, move the world if you must to make them happen.

Treat yourself right.

Multitasking

Multitasking is enticing. But can you really do three things at one time as well as you can do one?

It may be that in our quest to work smarter,not harder we are in fact working harder and less well.

Racing to hit the milestones, it's easy to miss the point.

Question

When tempted to vent your frustration in the form of a question ("What makes them think this is a good thing?" "Why are they asking us to do it that way?" and the ever popular "Who's bright idea was that?"), try imagining you are being asked the question and that you have to provide a serious, reasonable answer.

It might help. It might even put the situation into perspective. It will definitely provide you an opportunity to look just a little bit better -- better than you will if you blurt out the pointless question.

Better Choices

When faced with a new project, you have a dizzying number of options. Your experience and knowledge will trim those down considerably - you have a good idea of what will work, and what probably won't.

Still, there will be a lot of choices. And frequently - through habit or reflex or the simple comfort of the known - you'll make similar choices to those you have made in the past. And that can be fine. Wise, even. Assuming you have usually made the right choices.

Too often, you find yourself in a "here we go again" situation, not because you're dumb or incompetent but because the options you're used to selecting often lead to similar pitfalls or pinch points. Doesn't mean your path won't work - just that the same pain appears.

When you become conscious of this, it means you should back up, breathe, and think about how to make better choices.

Saving Daylight

Does changing the clocks really make anything work better? Or is it busywork for society, pretending that we're doing something to improve efficiency (saving energy would fall under that heading), make daily life more user-friendly (arranging things so the farmers can work or so the kids can go to school with the benefit of daylight would fall under that one), and so on. But in a 24-hour world... in a world with electricity for that matter... is it just spinning our wheels?

Most of us are not dependent on natural light. Farmers get up in the dark, regardless of what the clock says (and livestock do not respect government edicts to 'change time'). The kids might have another week of going to school in the light (after a week of going to school in the dark because we changed the clocks to Daylight Savings Time last spring), but now they come home in the dark. Meanwhile we have sleep disturbed, appointments missed, traffic accidents.

So, for all the disruption, what is really gained?

Convincingly Sincere

The challenge is to design something that you yourself would find useful and engaging... usually with the caveat that you have to pretend you have a totally different background and skillset... interests... abilities.... Like the man said: if you can fake sincerity, you've got it made.

Don't

Don't hide the "Next" button. Just don't.

The Big Picture

The problem with expecting people to see the big picture is that there are really thousands of little pictures demanding attention instead.