Welcome to Designers of the Round Table, a monthly spot where I sit down with our design team and pose a question about how they work, how they would solve a problem, or what tool works best in a certain situation. Enjoy this brief peek into our designers’ minds. 🖌
How do you handle being the lone designer on a team?
Sara Daguanno: Cry.
Mary Beth Snyder: Reach out to the design team a lot in Slack, bouncing things off of everyone, sending them something to check over in their own convenience.
Shawn Golden: Yeah definitely, also staying in close communication with developers, delivery leads, QA, and the client is really helpful, and educating where needed on our design process.
David Klawitter: I’ve found that I have always been lucky enough to have developers that have a solid understanding of design and its impact, that I can depend on, who understand the full context of the project. It can be hard when you don’t have a developer who understands, and it’s unfortunate that more do not.
Sara: Seeking out more experienced devs with an eye for design.
Sara: Also developers who will give you feedback with what is possible and what is not. I like knowing what traps will back the development team into a corner, so that I can work within the constraints.
David: It would be nice to find more ways to share and develop the design thinking of less-experienced developers. I know it’s probably as simple as team communication. Something I could get better at.
Sara: What problems do you all run into as the sole designer on your teams?
David: Workload. When you’re the lone designer responsible for multiple platforms with a big developer team and multiple device types, the biggest problem is that your best case is that they are pairing and you have four features being worked on at the same time, questions details, specs, etc. — and it can be even larger, eight specs, more, more, more.
Shawn: The secret is prioritizing?
David: One way is prioritizing, definitely. Also trying to get as far ahead of the developers as you can. An obvious gimme would be more designers, but we don’t have that. I always thought it would be good to have a dedicated designer per platform, to have experts, but at the same time it’s great to have designers who understand both.
Mary Beth: Each designer has their own set of challenges and opportunities, making updates to both platforms.
Shawn: There’s a certain amount of being honest with the team, and what you’re able to handle capacity-wise.
Sara: A good tip that has been discussed on some teams and projects has been the decision to lead with one platform. Pioneering, finding the pitfalls, then taking the lessons learned and following with the other one. It’s not how it typically works.
Mary Beth: Yeah I was on that project. The Android team had their own difficulties, but having had those challenges play out gave us a base to plan ahead for the following platform. I’ve been fortunate to work with devs who pay attention to detail to find red flags along the way and bring them to my attention. We had tight collaboration, and they were excited to be a part of the process in that exploratory way.
Sara: How would you collaborate with a project manager (delivery lead) in that situation?
Sara: They are a big ally at the beginning when there are a lot of unknowns in the project and navigating.
Mary Beth: I find it helps to have someone dedicated to making sure I’m on track, the team is on track, I know what’s expected of me, I don’t have to think about timing because it’s done for me.
David: Do you find that your file and asset organization goes out the door when you go solo?
Shawn: I definitely feel that for sure. If there isn’t someone that is going to keep me in check, I will let a few things slide and it eventually snowballs.
Mary Beth: It ebbs and flows for me. If I’m looking to get something out the door, I may slip, but I will usually come back and clean up after the fact because eventually the naming or organization will drive me crazy.
Shawn: Organizing a sketch file can be a nice break from design if you let things go for too long.
Sara: It’s therapeutic.
Dan Ward: Who critiques your work when you’re solo?
Sara: I try to avoid side conversations and keep it to my project team. I don’t go outside the project unless it’s to the design team. If a developer is not sure, they may talk to someone about it as well, but it’s usually the project team that I consult.
Dan: Do you utilize each other when on an island?
Sara: If I ever do, my questions come from a high level.
Mary Beth: Sometimes hitting each other up to see how certain things are solved.
Sara: The client provides a lot of critique as well.