How - Design Rationale
Practical tips on developing design rationale to build you long-lasting confidence to articulate and justify your decisions.
In the last newsletter, we explored what design rationale is and why it plays a crucial role in both our design process and growth.
We covered the importance of empathy, clarity, consistency, data, and scalability in the effectiveness of design choices.
While understanding what design rationale is important, developing one is as, if not more, important.
How do you develop and implement a working design rationale?
Today, I’ll guide you through the steps, strategies, and methods that helped me improve my decision-making process. By the end of this newsletter, you’ll have tools to build or further develop your design rationale.
1. Self-assess to progress
Yes, the rhyme is intentional. Before developing a strong design rationale, it’s crucial to understand where you stand.
Ask yourself:
What drives my design decisions?
Am I consistent with my approach?
What do I base my decisions on: assumptions or data?
Be retrospective of your recent design choices. Were they focused on user needs? Did they align with broader objectives? Were they clear to stakeholders?
This step is all about awareness.
Actionable step: Review a past project or initiative and note the reasoning behind each major design choice. Ask yourself if these decisions were based on:
user needs
business goals
technical constraints
2. Developing Core Principles
Like building a house, we need a foundation to build on. The foundation for our design rationale is our core principles.
In my case, they are empathy, clarity, consistency, data, and scalability.
But developing a long-lasting and ever-evolving design rationale requires core principles that are both functional and resonate with you.
What values or principles are most important in your design process?
Your design rationale will be strongest when it reflects your values as both a designer and a person.
Actionable step: Write down 3 to 5 core principles that you believe are essential for your design process. Make sure they’re specific to your goals and the kinds of products that interest you.
3. Framework for Decision-making
A framework is a set of guidelines that helps organize and streamline decision-making.
Once you have your core principles, it’s time to create a framework to apply them consistently. Your framework should help you break down each design choice and assess how it aligns with your principles.
For example:
Empathy for the user: How does this design address a real user problem?
Clarity and simplicity: Is the design clear and understandable?
Consistency: Does the design create a predictable experience?
By following questions based on your principles, you can ensure that each decision is reasoned.
Actionable Step: Create a checklist of questions for each core principle. Follow it as a guide to evaluate every design decision you make.
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4. Test and Validate
A design rationale shouldn’t and couldn’t exist in a vacuum. Test your rationale with your manager, mentors, teammates, stakeholders, and users. This is where data-driven decisions come into play.
If the data supports your choices – great. If not, it’s time to iterate. Validation helps polish your rationale and keep it aligned with real user needs.
Actionable steps: Test your design rationale on recent designs through stakeholders, users, or teammates. Use the data as a guide to refine your rationale and make any necessary adjustments.
5. Rationale as a Habit
As with everything, mastering rationale is a matter of consistency. The more you practice, the more you’ll effectively integrate it into your design thinking. Apply your principles and framework to all projects, no matter how big or small, until they become second nature.
It’s also useful to document and track your design rationale as you go. This helps you stay accountable and allows you to articulate your decisions clearly.
Actionable steps: Habitually document your design rationale for each project. It doesn’t need to be complex – a few sentences explaining your design choices based on your principles can go a long way.
To Summarize
Developing a strong design rationale takes time. Like most valuable skills, it requires reflection, consistency, and dedication to continual growth.
Design rationale will not only improve the quality of your designs but also your ability to communicate, collaborate, influence, and push back on stakeholders.
To summarize:
Begin with a self-audit → identify your current approach to design thinking and decisions.
Define core principles → align your principles with your goals as a designer (and as a person).
Define a framework → use your framework to guide, evaluate, and improve your decisions.
Test and validate → test and refine your rationale with real feedback and data.
Habitify → create a routine to document, track, and improve your rationale over time.
I am certain that if you follow these steps, you’ll elevate your design process. Developing proper design rationale will build long-lasting confidence in justifying your decisions, no matter the project.
My journey from instinct to pragmatic thinking started with a few key principles and the discipline to apply them.
Thank you for taking the time, and catch you next week!