Good vs. Great. Which Are You?

​ ​ ​ ​ Hello Indiana,​ One of the most popular subjects I see our industry return to over the years is the difference between being a good designer and a great one. But, of course, it is a silly debate because good and great are vague terms, and the difference is utterly subjective. Heck, people can't even agree on what a designer is. That said, it is good to strive to be better and to do that, you need an opinion on what better is. In my case, that definition has changed a lot over the years. Is Great Design About Aesthetics? I used to think I was a pretty poor designer. I would look at the designs of my peers and the examples people posted to design galleries and despair that I could never emulate their stunning aesthetics and engaging visuals. I didn't (and still don't) have the talent to be a designer that can create engaging and imaginative brand identities. I am never going to be a Mike Kus or Jon Hicks. Is Great Design About Being Logical? I came to terms with that as I realized I was not that kind of designer - that my talents lay more in user interface design. To be a great user interface designer, I told myself, I needed to be logical and consistent more than aesthetically impressive. In truth, neither being aesthetically impressive nor relentlessly logical is enough to be a great designer. Even both together barely scratches the surface. No, Great Design is More Than Either In more recent years, I have come to believe that a truly great designer needs to be empathetic and balance that with business needs. You need to be able to imagine what the person is thinking in the moment of interaction and adapt your design accordingly while still accommodating the business objective. Logical or visually stunning is not going to get you there. Why Being Logical or Visually Impressive Is Not Enough I can give you a silly little example of this on a project I am currently working on. It is for an insurance company that offers four different price packages for their car insurance. Everything logically and aesthetically screams to show these four options side-by-side in a pricing table. That is what a good designer would do. It would look visually pleasing and be a logical way of displaying the options. ​ However, I am not sure that is what a great designer would do because it fails to consider what people think during interactions. One group of users wants the cheapest option, and although the company wants to serve these people, it is not the best option for the customer or the business. Margins are low, and the product only provides the bare minimum of cover. It, therefore, makes sense to pull this option out and display it separately from the others. ​ However, displaying it above the others draws too much attention, making it look like a preferable option. A better solution would be to place it below the other options. Even though it is not logical, it de-emphasizes it and clarifies to the customer that this is a less desirable option. ​ But we are still not done. Most customers don't just want the cheapest option, so they are now left to pick between three similar products. So how do they know which is best? Most people don't have the time or inclination to look at the pros and cons of a product, despite this information being available in each pricing panel. The danger is that when faced with similar options, they will have analysis paralysis and put off making a decision. So how can we help them? One way would be to show which option is more popular, leading us to this design. ​ By visually enlarging the option and marking it as popular, it is suggested this is a good choice. But we can take things further and make it look visually more appealing while guiding the user to a good decision. ​ Centering the 'best' option gives it more emphasis, and it also tidies up the design. Of course, it is now not logical when you scan left to right. But neither is a medalist's podium. Logical is not always what people expect or what provides the best solution. I hope this example shows you that merely making something pretty or even logical is rarely enough. To produce great design, we need to dig deeper into how people act and think. We need to understand their motivations, thinking in the moment, and balance these with what we want to encourage them to do. I believe that great design is a conversation between the website and the user — a conversation where we prompt and guide a person with visual suggestions. How Will You Go From Good to Great? But hey, that is just my opinion, and there seem to be plenty of others with different definitions. So what is yours, because that is what matters? What matters is how you choose to go from being good to great. Thanks, ​ ​ If you no longer want to hear from me, I completely understand and you can unsubscribe from all emails here. Alternatively, if you need to update any of the information about yourself you can edit your profile here. ​ ​