How to know when a design is right

Whether you’re a designer or a client, at some point during a project you’ll need to decide if the design you have is the right solution. In reality, you’ll probably have to ask yourself this question a number of times. If you’re the designer, you probably ask yourself that with every move of the pen or mouse.

So, how do you know when all other options have been explored? How do you know that this, the design infront of you, is the very best solution possible?

Well, you don’t. It’s impossible to know. There are infinite ways of doing things, so you’ll never exhaust the possibilities. Which may just sound like a meme, but actually hides an important message: you have to know when to stop.

How do you know when to stop making changes to a design?

When to stop designing or making changes will depend on several factors.

Budget

If there are only four hours budgeted for design, then that’s the limit. The ideas generated in that time are the ideas you have to choose from. As client, you can’t expect more, as a designer, you shouldn’t do more. I can recall many conversations like this one:

• Me: You gave me an hour to come up with some ideas, here they are.
• Client/boss: I don’t like any of them; try harder.
• Me: OK, I’ll need more time.
• Client/boss: The budget’s tiny, I don’t want you to spend much time on this.
• Me: Sigh.

If time is limited by budget or deadline, then everyone has to accept what comes out of it. It’s entirely possible a moment of brilliance will happen in the first ten minutes and the job is nailed. It’s equally possible that same idea could take weeks of exploration. Some designers are better than others at pulling the rabbit from the hat, but even then, never bet the hutch on finding a brilliant idea in a finite amount of time.

The brief

If you’ve worked in design, or with designers, even for a short while you will almost certainly have come across initiatives for formalising the briefing process. The thing is, most briefs are terrible. Even the ones created through a formal process. That’s because people are pressed for time. Clients and account teams have a gazillion other responsibilities – thinking about and writing down detailed answers to abstract questions isn’t something they usually have the time, inclination or even experience to do well.

Assuming all the important technical information is communicated accurately between parties, in my experience the best creative briefs tend to come out of an old fashioned conversation. It’s important the designer listens, asks the right questions and takes notes. It’s important for the client to be honest and detailed in their verbal response.

In twenty-five years as a designer, I can’t recall a single eureka moment reading a written brief. But I can think of many times I’ve sat in the client meeting, listening intently to conversations around the table and have come up with ideas that have made me giddy to get back to my desk to explore. Just a few minutes listening between the lines and understanding the real problem can pay dividends.

However the brief is obtained, there’s a direct link between the detail and quality (aka honesty) of the brief and the range, quality and appropriateness of the design that comes out of it. As a client, you have the responsibility of providing good information; as a designer you must listen. I’ll say it again: listen. And take notes – because we all have terrible memories.

With all that in place, the project will at least be heading in the right direction from the start, and there’ll be some good measures to use when evaluating if the design does the job it’s meant to.

Deadline

It may sound obvious to say you can’t keep working on a design indefinitely. There has to be a cut-off point. But how many times have you been tinkering with a design right up to and even beyond the prescribed deadline?

Fixed budgets and fixed deadlines sometimes go hand in hand. And if there literally isn’t any more time left, then no amount of extra budget thrown at it will help. The designs that happen within that time are the designs you have to chose from.

As a side note on deadlines, there’s usually a reason for them. Maybe it’s an immovable event, a meeting, or a media deadline. Whatever the reason, it’s tempting sometimes to push it right to the wire. That isn’t conducive to good work. As well as being stressful for everyone, the designer will have other work lined up and may no longer be able to give their undivided attention.

There are many versions of ‘right’

So, with the brief set, the budget depleting and the deadline looming, how do you know if you have the right design?

Well, stop giving yourself a hard time searching, because there are many versions of right.

Imagine for every job, instead of there being infinite possibilities, there are ten. Half of those will be terrible. They’ll stink. They’ll look bad, will offend your audience, are off brand, or don’t communicate the right message. They’re dead ideas. They’re the ones that never get off the ground. The ones we reject early on. The ones that don’t even get close to the finish line.

Of the remaining five, they’re all, to varying degrees, right. If you have the time and budget, you could explore all five and select the best one. In reality you may only be able to try three. If you’re lucky, the very best possible idea will be in there. But, you’ll never know, so go with the best of the three.

That may sound bad when all you want it the very best, but at least the design you choose is a version of right. And it’s on budget. Which is a realistic aim of any brief, don’t you think?

Make a decision

It’s very easy as a client (or account manager, or boss) to demand extra time and effort is put in to exploring multiple possibilities, but you have to draw the line somewhere. You have to revisit the brief, remind yourself what was asked for and evaluate the appropriateness of the design based on that. If the square and the peg are roughly the same shape, they’ll fit in the hole. If time is pressed, or budget is tight, don’t spend time whittling the peg away – you’re unlikeley at that stage to make it fit any better.

So, if this design infront of you is a version of right, even if there are other versions of right left to be explored, the most efficient way forward may be to declare it done.

Does that mean you have to settle for second best? Not necessarily. You just have to be realistic. If you only have ten grand to spend on a car, unless you’re very lucky, you’re not going to get a Ferrari. But, if your aim is simply to get from A to B, even a small Fiat fits the brief.

Whatever your project, and whatever your role – designer, client or account team – always remember that truly great design takes skill, time, patience and budget. If, like the majority of projects, yours has pressure on any of those things then you have to be tactical on when to call a design ‘right’.

If it’s on budget and does the job it’s designed to do, everyone’s earned a pat on the back.