Building a Design Process

How do you break the habit of not doing design thinking properly and jumping right to your tools?

Question from Charles Peters

When I was a kid, I wanted to create a Science Fair project based on using magnetism to float cars. As a part of my project, I decided to build a track of magnets that would carry one of my Hot Wheels cars from one end to the other. I did some research (thanks, Internet), bought some heavy-duty magnets online (thanks, Mom) and pestered my dad to help me build said track (he graciously agreed). The most exciting part, for me, was that I got to see my dad build something in his workshop out in the garage. For as long as I can remember, he's had an amazing assortment of tools and gadgets that allowed him to do anything: from fixing a doorway to building an entire fence around our property. So when he agreed to help me out, I was ecstatic. I'd finally get to help with the jigsaw, or with the hot glue gun, or one of the many power drills.

While I did get to see those things in action (and help!), the first hour or so was not what I expected. My dad got out his tape measure and a pencil and began meticulously measuring and marking up the wood and plexiglass we would use. He'd measure a bit, make some hash marks, measure some more, erase the old ones and add new ones until he had the foundation laid out. He then proceeded to cut the wood and plexiglass and, aside from a few small adjustments, everything lined up pretty much exactly right. Where twelve-year-old me would have just cranked the buzzsaw and started cutting, my father knew it was time to plan. Time to measure. Time to make sure we understood what we were getting ourselves into.

Similarly, designers need to realize what part of a process we're in and use tools that are made for that stage. Is it time to do some preliminary measurement? Is it time to ask questions? Is it time to understand what we're wading into and what the potential paths are? Maybe a sketchbook, a blank text file and some post-it notes are your best tools. Maybe it's a whiteboard, your smartphone camera and a few smart friends. Regardless, I'd assert that stage does not include Photoshop, Sketch, Illustrator or live code. Your first steps should be disposable and cheap to throw away. Erasing a whiteboard and drawing some new stuff takes seconds. Deleting and rewriting code, or spinning up some new Sketch files takes, at least, minutes if not hours (be honest, you may be fast, but not whiteboard-fast).

And if you're not practiced in the ideation portion of the design process? Here's a good forcing function: ban your graphics & code editor for the first week of any new project. Don't use them. Find new tools. Even if you're sitting there twiddling your thumbs and thinking. Don't go back to what's familiar. Don't go back to cutting without measuring. Learn what tools get you the furthest in sorting out your design directions and embrace them. Keep using them even when you think you've got the solution already (hint: you're probably wrong and all the ideas you're generating will save you in the end). Design a bunch of solutions in the beginning, narrow that down to a few and then ship one or two.