How to work effectively with designers?

Hey there. Happy July 4th! I hope you had a wonderful time with family and friends in this amazing summer. Today, I want to share some thoughts on how founders, PM and dev can work more effectively with designers.

I have heard designers complain about the challenges of working with startup founders or PMs, and similarly, founders, developers, and PMs find it difficult to collaborate with designers.

Now working daily with founders, I must say that not all founders have the same level of experience when it comes to design. Some have previously collaborated with designers and are easier to work with, while others need basic education on the design process and how creatives think.

Let’s start with some design basics and the role of founder in the process:

1. Design is never right or wrong; it’s about preferences. A founder/PM’s job is to provide perspectives and preferences at the beginning, stick to them in the middle, and maintain consistency at the end.

2. Design can always evolve; it is never finished unless decisions are made. A founder/PM’s job is to make the call, whether it’s “let’s pick A” or “this is the final iteration before we launch.”

3. Design has a process; it’s about delivering the right fidelity at the right stage. A founder/PM’s job is to understand what type of feedback to provide at different stages.

If a founder/PM doesn’t understand the above points, they will face difficulties regardless of the designers they work with. Experienced designers can offer guidance, but founders/PMs still have their share of responsibilities when collaborating with designers. It’s never a one-way street.

So, how do you work with designers? Let me share the designers’ perspective and what you can do to enhance collaboration:

1.Understanding the design process

I often have to educate founders on what’s involved in the design process. When a feature request is made, it doesn’t become engineering-ready deliverables right away. The whole process I like to refer 4D: Discover, Define, Design and Develop. Here, I am only talking about the process within design phase for digital products.

Here’s what it takes to get a product experience right the first time:

1. Sort out the user flow: Ideally, collaborate with the founder and team.

2. Mockup the lo-fi design: Align with the founder and team, ensuring nothing is missing from the flow and interaction.

3. Design 2-3 pages in hi-fi style: Align with the founder/team again to see if the UI is a good fit. This step is necessary if this is the first time delivering hi-fi pages (when there is no prior design system).

4. Complete all of the hi-fi pages within the flow.

5. Create specifications for engineering: Provide detailed interactions and edge cases.

6. Fine-tune graphics or visuals if necessary.

A founder (usually with no experience working with designers) may expect a feature to be “eng ready” right after a designer worked on it. But most of the cases, designers needs to check in and align 3-4 times before locking down the final design.

Experienced founders would request the above steps separately and check in to confirm each step. It’s an ease when designers know such founders/PM understand their working process.

2. Be Flexible About the Process

However, it’s important to realize designers don’t need the above steps for every design request. For example, if you already have a high-fidelity flow design and want to add a small element to one of the pages, it’s much faster for to add that element in hi-fi. Not everything has to follow exact steps.

How to evaluate when you need or don’t need the full design process? It’s all about clarity: either the designer wants it, or the founder/team needs it. The more clarity you have, the less process you need and the faster things move.

3. Allow Time and Room for Designers to Be Creative

Designers need time to create. I used to work with a client who checked in daily to see progress and started commenting on very detailed and minor things that weren't relevant at that stage. It frustrates everyone.

There’s a reason why designers don’t want to show "in-progress work" to clients; it feels like someone is peeking into your clothes while you’re changing before you say, “I’m ready.”

Of course, as designers, we need to communicate about timelines and expectations so nothing comes as a total surprise (the bad type). So, if you decided to work with a designer, please trust them and give them the time and space to do their magic.

4. Show Your Appreciation

Many designers with a strong visual background are usually proud of their work and somewhat attached to it (it’s like their own baby). However, founders and PMs, especially those with a tech background, often see product decision flaws or development issues when they see the designs.

Before addressing those, consider about how much the designer got right and tell the designers: “Thanks for your awesome work,” or “You did it super fast,” or “The design looks stunning.” Then, consider providing constructive feedback.

5. Recognizing That Having Options is Actually a Good Thing

Please view multiple design options as a positive when working with designers. Even if you asked for an exact design, when a designer provides multiple options, it demonstrates their ability to create, challenge, and collaborate. That’s one of the key qualities most companies and teams evaluate when hiring designers. Designers are proud of the capabilities to come up with multiple options.

I have worked with founders who feel frustrated when designers provides multiple options. They have a vision in mind, and they want to hold the designers’ hand to make the exact design. So seeing more options makes them panic.

6. Make Clear Decisions

When designers present 2-3 options, have a clear set of principles that guide your decisions, and provide feedback on which one works or not. Experienced designers will also tell you their preferences. Many founders and PMs don’t have a good design sense and rely on the team (6-8 other engineers) to make a decision together. That’s called “design by committee,” and designers hate it.

If you are the key decision maker, do your job when working with designers so they know they don’t have to please everyone.

7. Stick to Your Decisions

Founders and PMs with a dev background realize how expensive it is to change code, so they are super careful about deciding what to build and how to build it. Designers hate changes too, especially when the founder or PM makes a decision today and goes in a different direction tomorrow. While it’s understandable for an experienced designer, whenever you change your mind, explain why it’s important to change.

8 Expect Iteration, and know it’s totally fine

Design is never right or wrong, thus you cannot get to the solution right a way like a math problem. Design is about options and preferences, thus iteration and multiple options are the nature of design work.

Many founders and designers underestimates the time it takes to iterate, thus creates frustration on both side when a deadline is set. If you allow no room or time for iteration, you won’t feel confident for the final solution in the end anyways. One of the most important quality as a designer is to be receptive for feedbacks. That’s why 80% of the time a designer is just iterating on their design constantly.

Summary

That’s what I can think of on this topic. If you want to have a smooth working relationship with designers, follow the above and let me know how it works.

Many designers are feeling type (that makes them great at empathizing with users), so it’s important to recognize them and make them feel good in the process of collaborating too. :)

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