Follow the Design Thinking Process
Any seasoned designer can agree that the design process is at the heart of the profession and it’s important to give each step a chance to take place. When working on projects, I do my best to ensure enough time to properly empathize, define the problem or problems, ideate new options, prototype solutions, and test them for efficacy and reiterate again.
Tie Goes to the User
There are times when some aspects of the experience are at odds with each other and in those instances, I believe you can never go wrong by allowing the user to win. If a business objective conflicts with best interest of a customer or user, I prefer to question the objective and search for new options.
Design Tools are not the same as Design Skills
I wish I could shout this from the top of the mountains so that all people would understand. Knowledge of a software, tool, or framework does not make you a skilled designer. Tools are a vehicle for visualizing and prototyping the ideas of the designer. The design is effective when the design knows the design process and how to translate their ideas into reality.
Big Picture and Small Details
Solving complex problems and architecting scalable systems requires an open mind to multiple perspectives. I strive to see the “big picture” from the beginning while paying attention to all the small details that make a design solution exceptional. I care as much about our 10 year goals as the differences between a hyphen, en dash, and em dash.
Learn Something New Each Day
Experience design is always evolving and changing and it’s important to keep up with what is happening. I continually strive to learn new things and new ways of working through research, reading, self-learning, and other training methods.