🔥 Campfire 10
Playing long game, user research and behavior, a sense of direction, and how to work with developers
Playing long game
In a world where most people play the short game, playing the long game offers a considerable advantage.
The short game is everywhere. Everyone is playing it. Spending more than you earn, not taking care of your health and relationships, having an opinion on something you don’t know a lot about.
The long game is almost invisible. Few play it. Playing it means investing time and resources today to make tomorrow easier.
The choice is yours.
User research to understand problems. User behavior to understand solutions.
Companies often underestimate the value of user research. As a designer, I’ve been helping big and small companies, and most of them fall into the trap of building a solution that’s not based on a real problem.
We’re not our target users. We’re not an audience to use our building product or service.
To understand the problem - research users.
To understand the solution - research what users do.
User research to understand problems.
User behaviour to understand solutions.— Roger Swannell (@rogerswannell) February 3, 2022
A sense of direction
It’s easy to trick yourself that you’re growing. But in fact, most of us stay on the same level by discussing and changing our tools, strategies, and planning plans.
To start moving, you need a sense of direction. When you have it – align your actions to move towards your goal. And keep moving.
Which one are you? pic.twitter.com/FPsts8fede
— Moina Abdul (@moina_abdul) January 28, 2022
How designers work with developers
Great products are always a result of seamless collaboration between great teams. As designers, we constantly collaborate with PMs and developers.
While PMs are responsible for product strategy, designers and developers work closely on tactics. Here are a few tips on making the design and dev collaboration beneficial for both sides.
Involve developers early
I find it very useful to interact with developers from the start of the project. Having devs involved in early conversations helps to understand the technology and constraints.
Create prototypes, not mockups
Sometimes the interactions are precise, but in most scenarios - they are not. Make sure to connect the screens and elements in prototypes. This will give the developer an understanding of how things should work and the different states of elements.
“If a picture is worth 1000 words, a prototype is worth 1000 meetings.” — Tom & David Kelley, Creative Brothers at IDEO.
Meet for hand-off
Open communication is essential to make the project run smoothly. Keep in mind that people have different ways of thinking. So when doing a hand-off – meet in person (or via Zoom) to have less room for misinterpretation.
Do a walkthrough of the designs and prototype and provide all the links and assets. Developers will thank you.