Kaleidoscope Executive Design Director Chris Collins shares Meaningful Aesthetics: Our Ultimate Guide to Getting Comfortable with Uncomfortable Design Decisions
Equip yourself with tips and tools to make decisions that connect with users and ignite growth. Kaleidoscope Design Director Chris Collins shares best practices that will help you discover:
* A deeper understanding of aesthetics and why they matter
* How to embrace the design process to make exceptional design decisions
* Top methods for creating a user lens using Inspirational Design Targets (IDTs), Personas and more
* Actionable step-by-step tips to make informed decisions on behalf of users
13. Chapter 3
How to Make
Meaningful
Aesthetic
Design Decisions
Meaningful Aesthetics: A Guide to Getting Comfortable with Uncomfortable Design Decisions
20. In the design world, there is a long-standing schism
between data and instinct. Many designers are
driven by the belief that some people (namely
themselves) are gifted with an innate design sense.
They hype gut instinct.This may be because the
consumer does not always know what they want.
The famous Henry Ford quote “If I had asked my
customers what they wanted, they would have said
a faster horse” illustrates this thinking.The influx of
research and resulting data can be frustrating to a
designer who, incidentally, was trained and hired not
to give customers what they asked for but to show
them what they need.
Learn to balance data and instinct.
6.
From my twenty years of experience in designing,
shepherding design and driving design decisions,
I have seen the importance of data and learned that
it is not a replacement for instinct. Data can be an
indicator. But forcing a measurement around design
strategies can lead to a direction that contradicts
your initial goal. Some tips within a tip:
• Study and channel lessons from business
leaders who are advocates for growing gut
instinct, such as:
• JackWelsh’s “Straight from the Gut”
leadership style as chronicled in
numerous articles and books
• Steve Job’s nearly mythological
approach to instinct and the decision-
making process including his famous
quote, “It’s not the consumers’ job
to know what they want"
• Henry Mintzberg's thoughts on business
and management including theories that
strategic thinking "is reliant on intuitive
processes and a feel for what is right"
• Use research and data to grow your instinct
around aesthetic decision-making.
• Research and study data, but always use your
informed instinct to make your gut decision.
Gut gives you a personal, nontransferable,
value-based decision that is in harmony
with the mindset of aesthetics.
Image Credit: DSX SIDE CHAIR, Charles & Ray Eames
Meaningful Aesthetics: A Guide to Getting Comfortable with Uncomfortable Design Decisions