When I worked at a certain software startup as a UX designer, several of the other designers there would often pull all-nighters to get something done. Every single time, when they would show their work after an all-nighter, it would be a hot mess. Navigation items left out, typos everywhere, incorrect shades of brand colors, all kinds of small things.
During these presentations, people in the room would latch onto typos and the other mistakes shown on screen and would not leave them alone. A mistake would become a point of entry that would allow people to pile on the criticism. Every single time, the designer would have to do more work on simple corrections.
Meetings would break down into proofreading sessions and end up wasting everyone’s time, as there was more focus on the tiny details rather than did the thing actually make sense to build and make customers happy.
I was not even tempted to do all-nighters, there or anywhere else, because I knew that doing so would just result in more work. I never wanted to waste my teammate’s time presenting anything full of typos or other easily fixable mistakes. I wanted my teammates to see the bigger picture. Also, I was (and in many ways, still am) a perfectionist.
What I would do instead when I put together a prototype is that I managed my time to allow for me to put that particular project away and come back to it later. Putting a project away for a brief time, often just overnight, has been part of my toolkit as a creative for decades and it has not failed me once.
Putting a project away temporarily helps me see my work with a fresh set of eyes, and it’s almost as valuable as getting feedback from a peer. In these cases, future me will give feedback to past me.
Letting my work rest also allows me to take a step back to make sure that whatever was working on was telling a good story. A visual story is still a story. At this point, I can produce wireframes like a ninja, but I still spend most of my time getting the story right.
I approach UX work like I approach any other writing or presentation assignment: my goal is to make sure that the story I am telling makes sense. I am a serial outliner. This is another big reason why I took to object-oriented UX (OOUX) so quickly: OOUX gives you and your teams visual outlines that everyone can understand. And it is effective for just about any creative project, not just software!
Taking the extra time to let my creative work marinate, including using OOUX techniques, has helped me level up. It has certainly saved me and my teammates hours of time squabbling about messy wireframes and presentations. You’re welcome 🙂
If you are looking ways to up your creative game, let me know.
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