More of You and Less of Me: Better Design Through Humility

Tyler Edwards at UXDX Community: USA Series: UX Process. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDdb0vsdeCY

Readable transcript: edited from the recording's captions for readability (fillers and false starts removed, punctuation and section headings added). Wording is the speaker's own. Timestamps are positions in the video. Names marked [?] could not be verified against the audio.

Humility as the foundation of a design process

[00:00:00] Tyler: All right, well, thank you all so much. My name is Tyler Edwards, I am the senior designer at Pixo in Urbana, Illinois. We're a software consultancy who specializes in creating websites and apps and systems that put people first, very simply said. It is an absolute pleasure to spend this time with you all today, so thank you so much for your willingness to have me and for your willingness to spend this time with us. This is wonderful.

[00:00:25] Tyler: So today we're going to be talking about what I believe is the most critical attribute of an effective design process. It's not better software, and it's not scrum or agile, and it's not a new kind of design system. Those are all great facets, but it's far more foundational than any tool or technique we could adopt, and it's humility. It's humility. Now, you might hear that and think, okay, sure, thank you, I was maybe looking for something a little new, a little more practical, but I guess this is fine.

[00:01:02] Tyler: But hear me out. This topic grew out of an effort to define our own design process at Pixo. We wanted to answer the question of how can we do our best work more consistently, and what makes our process most impactful. The deeper we dug into these questions, the more we uncovered this common thread: that all of our best work that we had done on all of our projects, all of it has been directly connected to the amount of humility that we employed on the project. When we had shifted our mindset from being me-centered to others-centered, our work would radically, radically improve.

[00:01:44] Tyler: I believe this is true for all of us, whether you're a UX designer or a visual designer or an engineer or a project manager or anyone else on a team like ours. Incorporating humility into your process is the key to doing your best work. When we build our design process on a foundation of humility, when we elevate the needs and the perspectives and the gifts of others above our own, we will produce the kind of work that truly makes us proud.

[00:02:15] Tyler: So here's what we're going to do with our time together this afternoon. We're going to start with an understanding of what I mean by humility and why it matters. Then we'll talk about how me-centered thinking has actually been hardwired into our professional lives from a very young age. Then we'll follow up with a quick evaluation, just to see how pervasive it is in our roles today. And then finally I'll offer some practical suggestions for how you can introduce others-centered thinking into your own process, and we'll use our Pixo design process as a roadmap when we do that. So let's get started.

What humility actually is

[00:02:52] Tyler: Now, when we hear that word humility, I think many of us equate it with having maybe a low view of yourself. It may be considered humble to think little of your strengths or your position or even your value as a team member. But that's not quite right. You see, true humility is not a diminishing of your capabilities, it's actually a recognition of your inabilities. You do have many strengths. You are a worthy and equal member of your team. That's true. And at the same time, you are not the be-all and end-all source of success. You're only a piece of the puzzle.

[00:03:37] Tyler: If we're going to work in humility as professionals, as UX designers, as visual designers, as whomever, then we must see how dependent we truly are on the people around us. That's the heart of humility. It's acknowledging our great need. It is an all-encompassing focal shift from ourselves to the people around us, from being me-centered to others-centered. You're going to hear me talk about that a lot, being me-centered to others-centered.

[00:04:07] Tyler: So do this with me. Think about your own team for a second. Think about it as a body. If UX is the bones and designers are the skin and engineers are the organs, then it would be pretty foolish of you, say the designer, to say, no thanks buddy, I don't need your help. Of course you do. You're just a pile of skin without the rest of your team.

[00:04:31] Tyler: And that may seem obvious. Of course I need my team. I'm not a developer or a project manager, I'm a designer, I can't do what they do, I do what I do. But if we insist on doing what we do in a vacuum, without inviting input and critique and collaboration, then we will inevitably sabotage the entire project.

Me-centered thinking cuts out the most important voices

[00:04:54] Tyler: Me-centered design elevates the priority of your own contribution as it minimizes the work of everyone else. You'll come out of every project with great wireframes or great mockups, but just a lousy product. And that's just your team. What about the people you were designing a product for, the end user, the audience?

[00:05:16] Tyler: When we work out of a me-centered mindset, we completely cut the most critical voices out of the equation. We believe that our expertise is sufficient when they're the real experts. They are the ones who can offer the most valuable input from the very beginning — Wilma was just talking about this in her talk. They're the ones who will use your product long after you finish building it, and when we design without considering their needs, their experiences and the overall impact our work may have on their lives, we're going to miss the mark every single time.

[00:05:50] Tyler: So when I design out of a me-centered mindset, the truth is I'm only designing for me. I've said this a lot in the past, but what I do as a visual designer, I'm painting pictures when I do this, and I'm painting pictures for the great gallery of my own design achievements. Now I could care less about how positive an impact it may have on the lives of others, or how I might lift up the talents of my team. I'm only concerned with what others think about me.

We were hardwired for this from childhood

[00:06:23] Tyler: The fact is, we've been hardwired with a me-centered mindset from our youth. This is deeply ingrained in each of us. As a kid — because there I am as a kid — hey, I was at the center of the universe. I was the main character of the story. And when it came to the thoughts and the plans I had for my future, like many of you, I was consistently asked the question, well, hey, what do you want to be when you grow up? What are you going to accomplish? What kind of future will make you most happy? All aspects of life had me constantly preparing for the kind of career that would ultimately define and fulfill me.

[00:07:05] Tyler: And that was equally true in college. I went to school for graphic design, where every project I worked on had me functioning as the only team member and the client and the audience. It was me and me, and it was always my vision from the beginning to the end. And so we work our whole young lives towards a career with this emphasis on me.

[00:07:30] Tyler: Then all of a sudden we get hired to work alongside others, being informed by others, creating things for others, asking questions of others. And it's truly incredibly jarring. And I'll tell you, my heart just aches when I consider all of the effort I poured into elevating and guarding my reputation as a professional designer over these past 15 years.

A quick test

[00:07:57] Tyler: So if we're going to effectively introduce humility into our own design process, we have to first acknowledge that me-centered thinking and how it pervades our own lives currently. We need to reckon with the influence of the me-centered world around us. So this is what we're going to do real quick. We're going to take a quick test to probe our own me-centered tendencies. I'm going to put these questions up on the screen and read them out loud to you to consider. There's just four A or B questions, and if you've got some notes pulled up, maybe try and just jot down your answers and we'll see how you fare at the end. So, you ready? This is real quick, let's do this together.

[00:08:36] Tyler: So, when working on — I say design mockups here — when you're working on wireframes, when you're working on anything, do you invite people in to regularly critique your work, or do you wait until everything is just right before you share it with others? All right. Okay, next one. When researching a future project, do you speak with potential users to understand their needs, or do you rely on your own experience and your own understanding for direction?

[00:09:08] Tyler: Okay. Do you consider your client or the stakeholders to be an ally, someone to partner with, or someone who will most likely get in the way? Then, when you receive critical feedback, do you take it as an opportunity to improve yourself and your work, or do you throw a fit and determine all of the reasons why they are wrong?

[00:09:34] Tyler: All right, how did we do? Do you have more A's or more B's? If you found yourself with more B answers, that's great. We're definitely confronting some real me-centered patterns there, but I'm so glad you chose to be honest with yourself. If you have all A's, then I'm afraid that you need to humble yourself and think again. I am joking, but I'm confident we're not all hitting home runs here. I know I'm not.

Discover

[00:10:02] Tyler: Now that we've got a better understanding of how pervasive this me-centered thinking can be, how can we practically keep others at the center of our work as design professionals? Here's what we'll do with the rest of our time. We're going to walk through Pixo's own design process, and with each phase I'll share some thoughts and some practices we typically utilize to help us keep others at the center of our work. At Pixo our process consists of four D's: discover, define, design, develop. Pretty simple, I'm sure you've got something like this as well. So we'll begin with discover.

[00:10:42] Tyler: At the very beginning of each project our team works really hard to learn all that we can. Who's the client, what are their goals, how are they represented visually, who's the audience, what are their needs, so on and so forth. We become students, asking every question we can, leaving no stone unturned. So how do we work to keep others at the center of that discovery phase?

[00:11:09] Tyler: First, we direct all of those questions towards actual people, and not just any people, but the people at the heart of the project. Again, we're just hitting at this, and I really loved what Wilma had to share. But big picture, we'll schedule a kickoff meeting for the whole team to engage with the client, the stakeholders at large. We establish weekly meetings to continue our discussion and lay a foundation of trust. We make plans for each of those meetings to include some kind of exploratory activity, like messaging card sorts and design inventories. We conduct interviews. We ask the client to clearly define the audience and direct us towards members of that audience that we can actually speak with.

[00:11:53] Tyler: Now, as the designer, specifically as the visual designer, it is my immediate temptation to disengage from the discovery phase. I'm just here to kick out mockups, right? And absolutely not, that's a me-centered mentality. Rather, we as designers must walk alongside our content strategists, our UX designers, our researchers, as they do the hard work of research. We need to ask to participate in their interviews with audience members, be an observer at each activity and listen intently to the conversations they're having.

[00:12:31] Tyler: Here's my other me-centered tendency in the discovery phase. I'm quick to assume that my eye for design is far better than the client's. I can whip up something from my own imagination without their input and it'll be right on target, don't even worry about it. But that's absolutely untrue. I am just now entering this project where they've had a vision for this product for months, if not years. It's my job to help materialize what they already visualize.

[00:13:03] Tyler: So we must conduct activities that help the client communicate their vision in a visual way. One activity that we like to use, we call it the gut test. In this activity we invite a diverse group of people from the organization to review 15 to 20 different examples of designs — say, if it's a website, designs from around the web — and with each example we ask our participants to answer the question: how accurately does this design represent your vision for the new website? So we'll send out an online survey with the images to gather their thoughts, and then we'll have a follow-up discussion with the entire group to review the results.

[00:13:45] Tyler: And this is always such an eye-opening activity. I love it. It empowers the client to actually pair pictures with their thoughts: when I say that I want our website to be modern or bold or approachable, this is what I mean, right here. So instead of assuming that I know what they mean, they can articulate their vision more precisely.

Define

[00:14:07] Tyler: All right, on to the next phase here. This is what we call define, and this is a unique step in the process. It's less of a phase and it's more of a pivot point. When we define, our goal as designers is to synthesize and communicate all we've learned from our research, and then we want to set an initial course for the design itself. So how do we do that with an others-centered mindset?

[00:14:37] Tyler: First, we make the time to share with the client all that we've learned, with a discovery findings meeting. It'd be easy to conduct our research and simply say, okay, thanks, we'll take it from here. But how do we know that we're walking away with the right information? So when we share our findings with the client, we ensure that our research is accurate and it's complete. This is a chance for the experts to call out any inconsistencies or blind spots in our understanding.

[00:15:08] Tyler: Then the other facet of the phase is setting the course for design in collaboration with the client. It is our great temptation as designers to run off with just the first good idea we have and make it a reality. But if we head off in some direction that seems right to us alone, even if it's off by just a few degrees, we'll end up miles away from the client's vision.

[00:15:36] Tyler: So we solved this problem at Pixo by using something we call design palettes. A design palette is just a collage of styles, like colors and typography and buttons, and they serve eventually as the visual DNA for the entire product. This is very much derived from Samantha Warren's concept of style tiles, and really kind of the same thing, except just a cooler, fantastic tool for collaboration as well.

[00:16:07] Tyler: As a designer, I develop three to five of these palettes, then I work with the client to review each palette and determine which collection is nearing the mark. So together we may grab the colors from this palette, or the type from this palette and the buttons from this other palette, to form a set of styles that the client and I feel best represent their organization and their vision for the product. Once we have our final palette I can grab my paintbrush, and I can just begin designing mockups with confidence, knowing that the perspectives and the desires of others have set the course.

Design: let people in

[00:16:51] Tyler: All right, okay. Finally we're at the design phase. So how do we as designers sketch and build and specify the design with people at the center? First and foremost, we invite people in. And I'll tell you, I struggled with this for years. When I would design, I was like a train just headed into a long tunnel. I'd enter a dark tunnel of deep work for about two weeks, and then I'd emerge on the other side with a handful of nearly finished mockups.

[00:17:24] Tyler: But here's the thing: I preferred the tunnel because I didn't want anyone to see my work until it was finished. It wasn't good enough, it wasn't up to my standard of quality, I was afraid to share it. What would others think of me, and think of me as a designer? I was guarding my reputation instead of inviting others to help me refine it. I was more concerned about me and less about them.

[00:17:48] Tyler: And let me tell you, designer: let people in. Your work is unfinished, it's ugly, because it's going to be until it's done. No one looks at a big hole in the ground at a construction site and says, oh man, that engineer has no idea what they're doing. In fact, the wise engineer says, hey, can you take a look at this hole and make sure it's right? People are going to depend on the building that goes here and I don't want it to collapse.

[00:18:18] Tyler: We have to die to our pride. That chain inside of us that tethers us to our work, our work and our identity as one, it's got to be torn apart. You are not your design. That is an empty existence. You are a person, and there are other people just like you who stand to benefit from your talents, so use them for their sake, not just your own.

[00:18:44] Tyler: Now, how can we do that practically? We do that by holding frequent critiques with fellow designers. Don't wait until it's all finished. The moment you have a rough concept, share it with your team, invite them to review it with a critical eye. Share your progress with the client, that's right, even when it's half baked, even if it's quarter baked. If you're feeling unsure about a decision you've made, look to them for their affirmation. I guarantee you the right clients will appreciate it. They'll be more invested because of it.

[00:19:17] Tyler: And then share the design with your engineers too, as early as possible. Do not wait until it's 100% complete and ready for development. Rory was talking about this, with the goal of UXDX, in the beginning: this is a dismantling of the waterfall. Your design is not 100% complete until it's developed. You can't design a website in Figma and call it a website, because it's not on the web. If you want people to be at the center of your design, man, we've got to invite people in to make decisions with you.

Develop

[00:19:49] Tyler: All right, last one. The final phase of the Pixo design process is develop, and when I say develop I mean that our engineers have assumed the bulk of the work at this point. So the designers are kind of slowing down in creating new things — wireframes are done, visual designs are done — and it's transitioning more to a role of reviewer. So how do we maintain an others mindset in the final leg of the process?

[00:20:16] Tyler: First, we partner with our engineers. We must remain engaged with our engineers as they turn the design into a real working product. It's our tendency as designers to do what Dan Mall refers to as the dead drop, and that is, we package up our design files, we chuck them over the wall to our engineers and we just hope for the best. Maybe you've done that before. So we need to schedule regular collaboration sessions where you and your engineers are combing through the working product together. Get familiar with the code yourself and speak in their language. Don't abandon them, be in it with them.

[00:20:55] Tyler: And finally, now that we have a partially working product, we have to invite future users to test it. Go back to those audience members you first interviewed and see what they think. Conduct your user test, see what's working and what's not working from their perspective. Let them critique it and refine it, because remember, it's ultimately for them.

Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending

[00:21:16] Tyler: All right, we can catch our breath here for a second. I imagine that's a lot to take in. It's a lot, and it requires a great deal of hard work too. This isn't a new tool or a technique to implement. This is a work of personal transformation. This is a rewiring and unlearning. But I promise you, you're worth it.

[00:21:38] Tyler: And listen, I'm not saying this from the summit, like I've achieved this in full. I am not the divine humble designer here, not at all. I'm at the base here, hoping to change along with you. I'll end this time with a quote from one of my favorite writers. This is Saint Augustine of Hippo, and in defining the nature of humility he gave us this charge: do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.

[00:22:11] Tyler: So thank you so much for your time, thank you for listening. My name is Tyler Edwards. You can reach out to Pixo or to me on LinkedIn, or head over to our website at pixotech.com. Thanks for your time.

Q&A

[00:22:27] Host: Thank you very much, Tyler. Yeah, I didn't answer all A's when you gave me the test, so I have some work to do on my humility. We all do, I find. My first question is, I know the concept of sharing early and often, and the value of it, and I know the feeling of "but this is crap right now and there's no point sharing it because it doesn't get across what I'm trying to get across". So how do you — I know you're saying share it, but I'm always kind of still saying, oh well, I'll just do a little bit more, because it's so crap now that I have to get it a little bit better before I share it. What are your tips for people like me?

[00:23:24] Tyler: That's a good question. Certainly, immerse yourself, like just do it, is one thing. Break the tension of that feeling of like, this needs to be perfect before someone, especially even the client, sees it. But another thing — I'll reference Dan Mall again — he talks about this in a talk, in a book a while ago, where he talks about the importance of building ugly. And so we don't even just call our early designs and our early progress ugly, we actually try and keep it as low fidelity as possible for a while.

[00:23:59] Tyler: So the things that we need to grow in, in that way, is speaking more conceptually than we are just trying to refine everything in the beginning, and then also growing in the way that we communicate that to our clients. How do we actually talk about the work, how do we talk about the vision of the work and the future of the work? How can we actually communicate more effectively to people on our team, to our clients, that what you see here, that are just a couple of circles and some squares and some scribbles and whatnot — where are you heading with that?

[00:24:34] Tyler: Another thing is making small decisions more frequently. So instead of waiting until the big pixel-perfect composition is finished — which, that's the thing we have to do away with to begin with — making small decisions on small things. We're still very much subscribers of atomic design[?], where we want to make these kinds of micro decisions along the way. And that's one thing in the process we're talking about doing with design palettes, where we're making small decisions on simply type and color and button styles, three very simple but foundational things.

[00:25:11] Tyler: And when we get a resounding yes on that, in collaboration with the client, then we can very simply move on to something a bit more in context. We've got real content that's starting to come in, maybe we're building out some small components, maybe a certain page type — I'm talking about a website here — and since we've already approved these styles and we're just simply painting with them, it's a lot easier to get a vision for it. Just do away with the language of, okay, but it's not done yet, we've got a little bit more to go, it's a little ugly right now. Don't be afraid of it, just be confident.

[00:25:52] Host: I'm just seeing there's a comment from Timothy saying, thanks for sharing, learned a lot from your explanation.

[00:26:00] Tyler: To be sure, I think that was for Wilma earlier. Props for that.

[00:26:08] Host: Yeah, but I apologize, thank you so much. It was for Wilma, apologies. You touched on a point there that I want to dig deeper into. You mentioned ugly, like wireframes versus the fidelity, and how do you deal with — because I've seen both sides of this. You show a wireframe to a client and they're like, what the hell am I paying you for, this is kind of hand on paper, and they can lose track, because a wireframe is supposed to make you not lose track on the look and feel, but people do because it looks so basic. Versus the other side, where it's almost pixel perfect, and then they're nitpicking at the wrong things.

[00:26:55] Tyler: Oh yeah, and I've been in that situation so many times. I think the key aspect there is being very clear about what we need to walk away with from this time in collaboration with the client. So if we're looking at wireframes, we make very clear this is not the design, this is not the front end, it's not the visual design. What we need decisions on today are the hierarchy of where things are existing on a particular page or screen or something. Be as clear as possible about what is the thing that we are trying to accomplish when we look at this right now.

[00:27:34] Tyler: And then hopefully that creates more of a tunnel vision for, oh, I'm not as concerned about all those things I'm already thinking about. Because it's so easy when you see something that's unfinished, especially a client who's not always in the same space and thinking in the same way that we can, visualizing ahead — it's really easy to think, like you said, what am I paying for? These are just boxes with Comic Sans. I don't know if anyone's using Comic Sans for wireframes. Maybe don't.

[00:28:05] Host: Balsamiq, I think that's the default font on Balsamiq.

[00:28:07] Tyler: Balsamiq, oh I love it, beautiful. But yeah, just being terribly clear about what the goal of that time is. And that's true for visual design as well. When we move on from wireframes and we have visual design that isn't quite there when it comes to that high fidelity definition, not all the styles are here yet, it's: listen, here we're focusing in on this particular component, we want to make sure that it's applying the styles that we've already agreed on from our design palettes, and that it's being applied correctly to the way that the content exists.

[00:28:46] Host: That's actually brought us up to exactly time, so we're out of time for today, but thank you very much for that. I really enjoyed the presentation, and it felt a little uncomfortable because it felt like you were talking a bit too closely to me personally. But thank you very much.

[00:29:07] Tyler: Thank you.