In his book “Articulating Design Decisions”, Tom Greever, design leader, author, and speaker, talks about the importance of clearly communicating and justifying design decisions to clients and team members. Here are some key insights from the book on why articulating design decisions is beneficial for both designers and clients. 1. Clarifies design objectives And it’s simply impossible to have a healthy relationship with other people if that relationship is one-way." I sort of accidentally found myself in full-time design roles as soon as I was out of college. I expected to be more of a businessperson I think -the marketing side of things.” This book is for designers at any level that wants to learn practical tactics for articulating designs to stakeholders who may be less knowledgeable about design. Additionally, developers can benefit from learning practical tips to improve communication with designers and stakeholders. About the book As mobile phone growth turned powerful smartphones into touch-screen super phones, our ability to interact with products and services on a regular basis shifted from being an intentional, arm’s-length, conscious choice to an automatic muscle-memory involuntary jerk of the wrist. Like social media, our devices are intensely personal and are becoming more intimate. Our interface with the world is no longer the machine at arm’s length. It’s the touchable glossy display that we always have with us. Always on, always connected, always shaping the way we see our world. As a result, universal understanding of the importance of UX has grown, too. Every software update introduces new ideas and elicits strong opinions from every user. This is why so many people have an opinion about your work. STARTUP CULTURE HAS CHANGED HOW PEOPLE VIEW DIGITAL PRODUCTS

Clear communication of design decisions is key to building trust with clients and ensuring team alignment toward a common goal. Here are some practical tips to effectively communicate design decisions and gain client buy-in. 1. Start with the why

Reference Cards

Using data is really compelling to stakeholders. For that reason, it’s also important to recognize that looking at bad data will still yield the wrong choice, so we need to be really careful with this approach. What I mean is that data often tells us what the user did, but not why. We try to infer the why by looking at the what, and this naturally involves making assumptions. If we make changes based on a wrong assumption, we end up with a design that is likely to cause more problems than it solves. So, keep in mind that making decisions based on data can only be truly effective when taken as a measure of the project on the whole, in context, and without too many assumptions. In television, it’s common to have prearranged ringers on programs. Whether it’s a news broadcast, talk show, or reality TV, there are always people whose answer or reaction the show’s producers have prearranged. They might need help building energy and momentum to make the show feel more interesting. The ringer might be the anchor who asks a good question of a reporter that he didn’t cover in the initial story. Or the ringer could be an audience member asking a question to communicate something that’s more effective coming from an average person than the expert host. Whatever the case, a ringer’s purpose is to bolster support for an idea.

Also, this article was based on a chapter on the book called Articulating Design Decisions . The chapter's name is "Dealing with changes". It’s not always simple. These can be the most difficult decisions to help other nondesigners (and nondevelopers) understand because the reasons are often highly technical. Stakeholders don’t like (or understand) these limitations and might even be put off by the prospect that you can’t do the same thing their competitor does. I imagine an executive pulling out his phone, showing you the way someone else does it, and then asking “Why can’t we do that?” But these limitations are real, and we have to help our stakeholders see the constraints so they can be part of the decision. “COMPLIES WITH A STANDARD” That’s where we find ourselves today. In a meeting with people who have no idea how to do our jobs, yet consistently find it their place to tell us how to do it. It’s enough to drive any designer insane. Digital Experiences Are Real Life The final step is high-fidelity testing using interactive prototypes. UX designers test these prototypes with end-users and stakeholders to gather insights and make educated decisions about the final result. Document design decisionsWhat to say when the CEO is obsessing over a minute detail that isn’t relevant to the meeting’s purpose: We need to confess the mistake with the humility we have and speak openly about it, letting people know that when you have a problem in the project, you will say it as soon as possible so that the improvement is made as soon as possible. We must identify conversational patterns where it is necessary to employ methods to keep our focus on task."

One of the best ways to make a case for your designs is to directly connect it to the needs of the business. Here are three of the most common responses for appealing to the business: So go through each of your designs, look at the agenda for the meeting, and decide the best flow for presenting your ideas. In the same way that we create a flow for our users through the application, we also want to curate the flow of our design discussion. Now match up those needs with the people in the room. For each person, ask yourself: So if we need to implement a design decision that we disagree with, it’s important not to give up and just throw it into the interface — however tempting that might be. Proposing to implement this type of decision can easily be a possibility for you to discover the best way to implement something and evolve the design materials that your team has today.

Video Series

Experience decision-making comes from a UX designer’s knowledge and past work. Over time, designers make these decisions unconsciously, like creating layouts, alignment, and spacing. When presenting design decisions, it's important to use real-world examples and to show how your design choices will improve the user's experience.” - Tom Greever To get the attention of your stakeholders, it’s important to begin your response with a phrase that emphasizes your use of data, such as:

She quizzed me on my portfolio, which I easily defended. She asked me about my past experience and ran through my resume, which I gladly bragged about. But then she got down to the point. She made a transition from interviewer to client and asked me the most memorable question of my career: “Let’s say I have a new project for you. What’s the first thing you would ask me about it?” Merge components include properties and interactivity defined by the design system, so designers can spend more time building user interfaces to solve user problems rather than making component-level decisions. The process of getting people on board with your vision takes place more in one-on-one meetings than it does in a conference room. People can be reluctant to agree in a group setting if they’re aware that the executive in charge has a different idea. Your job is to work with people beforehand and figure out who is on board with your designs before that conversation even takes place. You want to find the swing votes that will build a majority or ask other people to be prepared to help you. Make sure that you build into other people and relationships enough that you already have these go-to people available. It’s not something you should expect to pull off right before the meeting. When I interview designers, I always ask them, “What makes a good design good?” Most of the answers are predictable, and some of them are sort of right, but they all tend to sound something like this: “a good use of space,” “simplicity,” or one of my favorites, “when you can’t remove anything else.” Those are good things and they express how a lot of people approach design, but they aren’t truly what make a design good in the eyes of a business. They all speak to subjectivity—to an aesthetic that not everyone will agree on.Clear communication fosters a collaborative approach and ensures that everyone is aligned toward a common design goal. This unified effort unleashes the full potential of the design team, paving the way for unparalleled creativity, and innovative ideas. 4. Provides ready references I know it sounds crazy, but I really enjoy interviewing for jobs. I applied for just about anything and I said yes to every interview. It was a low-risk opportunity to practice talking about my work. Sometimes, I would go to interviews for jobs that I knew I didn’t want. Why? I enjoyed learning how to talk to people in those kinds of meetings and built up a vocabulary for discussing design with others. Once, I actually negotiated a salary for a web design job that I had no intention of accepting, simply because I wanted to see if I could get the manager to offer me a higher salary. He didn’t (in fact, he laughed at me), but it was exciting for me to push those boundaries and see just how skillful I could be at convincing him that I was worth it. Putting ‘Recent Projects’ at the top of the home screen will improve data quality because users will have easier access to keeping their data current.” It’s beneficial for two people who share the same vocabulary to discuss their work and make each other better. This is a great skill for every designer to have, and it will go a long way toward helping you be articulate with stakeholders.” ⭐️ Chapter 2 — Great Designers Are Great Communicators Articulating Design Decisions: Communicate with Stakeholders, Keep Your Sanity, and Deliver the Best User Experience