On Design Decisions – A Note to My Boss
In 2007, in Hangzhou, at the startup company Popcorn Video.
In a company or team, when there’s a disagreement in design decisions, who gets the final say? I’m sure every designer has encountered this problem, maybe even been troubled by it.
The first time I deeply encountered this problem was when I designed a graduation poster for my university. The teacher in charge of the exhibition stood behind me and told me how to modify it. I hovered my fingers above the keyboard for two or three minutes in silence and then said, “I can’t do this design. You should find someone else” (from this, you can roughly see my youthful defiance and the hardness beneath my soft appearance at the time).
Later in my career, whether at a startup or at a big company like Alibaba, whether I was doing the detailed design execution or managing a team of 50 people, the question of “who gets the final say in design” always brought me pain and always prompted my reflection.
I’m breaking down this topic into four parts: Advice for bosses, advice for design managers, advice for designers, and advice for stakeholders. I hope my pain and reflections can offer some insight in this area.
On Design Decisions - Advice for Bosses
It’s a good thing when a company boss or the higher-ups value design, and it’s also not a good thing.
The good side is that the company can invest resources in design and user experience (like competitive designer salaries, design training, design software purchase, image/font purchase, etc.), people, and time (can they allocate development time specifically for improving design quality?). The company, from top to bottom, pays great attention to design quality and details.
But, at the same time, the negative side in such a team or company often is: the boss or higher-ups overly involve themselves in the design. For example, obsessing over design style, fonts, colors, etc. Large and small design decisions usually fall on the boss, resulting in low design quality because the boss’s aesthetics dictate the design direction and low product development efficiency because the boss is not a “full-time designer,” and their feedback and decisions are generally not timely.
Here, I want to share an interesting interview from the book “Boss, No One Buys That Design!” to express my latest views. (Additionally, at the end of the text, I’ve attached a 2010 email exchange with my then-boss, now Rokid’s founder Misa, on this topic.)
The Tsutaya Bookstore (Tsuta, same pronunciation as bird), praised as the most beautiful bookstore globally, I visited the Daikanyama Tsutaya Bookstore once in 2015, and it felt great. An interview by author Yoshiko Kawashima with Tsutaya Bookstore’s founder Muneaki Masuda is the first of six interviews in the book.
Kawashima: The Daikanyama Tsutaya Bookstore is doing really well, it’s very fashionable indeed.
Masuda: (Omitted)… The president’s job is ‘management,’ and creating ‘fashion’ is the design department’s job, which the president cannot do.
Kawashima: How should it be done then?
Masuda: Just leave it to others.
Masuda: That’s what I did. At the Daikanyama Tsutaya Bookstore, I never looked at the design drawings. I saw it for the first time after it was completed.
Kawashima: Really? I thought you would’ve explained your tastes in detail to the architect, offered all sorts of suggestions, and often visited the construction site…
Masuda: No, no, not at all. If I had done so, it would certainly have turned into a tasteless bookstore… (Omitted)
Tsutaya Bookstore
Kawashima: Have you always thought this way?
Masuda: Actually, before the Daikanyama Tsutaya Bookstore, I built my villa in Karuizawa, which was a rehearsal for the bookstore. (Omitted)
Kawashima: Did you leave the construction of the villa entirely to the architect and designer?
Muneaki Masuda
Masuda: Not really. There’s one thing I kept emphasizing: the philosophy.
Kawashima: The philosophy?
Masuda: Yes, the philosophy. Take the villa, for example; why do I want it, why build it? More fundamentally, what exactly is a villa? (Omitted) Every weekend, I have discussions with the architect about the ‘philosophy of the villa.’
Kawashima: So, what a manager should do is establish a ‘philosophy’ and convey it to the professionals doing the design and creating the drawings, sharing the same values. Masuda: Yes. Masuda: Therefore, “choosing the architect” is the most important job for me. (Omitted) If it fails, it’s my mistake for choosing the wrong architect. Once chosen, trust them. Cutting in halfway isn’t choosing.
This excerpt is from “Boss, No One Buys That Design!”. It’s a fantastic book; I’ll write a review later. Friends who want to buy it can find the link to JD books here 👉
Generally speaking, bosses are often praised and flattered; what employee dares say “boss, your responsibility is XXX,” and still wants to survive? 😄
Since I have no boss now, allow me to be a bit reckless and distill two pieces of advice for bosses from my past “living with the tiger” days. When it comes to design decisions, I’ve summarized two responsibilities for the “boss” role: First, grasp the top-level philosophy; second, find the right people.
Ad: Elegantly forward this article to your boss or the company group, you should understand the purpose 😝
On Grasping the Philosophy
In reality, most bosses often focus on design style and details rather than the top-level philosophy (such as why to do it? Who is it for? What are the principles?). Be aware that discovering, uncovering, and organizing the unseen philosophy is the most difficult, challenging, and important part of the design. In contrast, nitpicking visible design details and easily expressing opinions on aesthetics is actually the easiest because anyone can say a few words about “whether it looks good.”
As a boss, bypassing the establishment and communication of philosophy to dive into and indulge in design details is extremely dangerous for projects and teams. One symptom of this danger is: when the designer turns around and asks, “What’s your idea for this project,” the negligent boss’s answer is “I don’t have an idea yet / I haven’t thought it through, you go ahead first.” Simultaneously, there’s a notorious saying in the design industry that confirms this symptom: “Boss: I feel something’s off, can’t put my finger on it. Try other solutions, let’s take another look.”
The root cause is the lack of a philosophy for the boss.
Finding the Right People
Following Mr. Masuda’s logic, let’s discuss finding people. A boss, if they believe they have enough aesthetic sense, ability, and confidence to judge the rightness of the design style, the quality of design taste, and the details of the design, then they should also have enough ability and confidence to scout and identify suitable designers. If a boss finds it difficult to find the right designer, they need to reflect seriously while arbitrarily interfering with design details: Do I really have the ability to make professional judgments?
A boss’s extensive interference in details is definitely detrimental rather than beneficial: it affects design output quality, product development efficiency, employee work/team collaboration enjoyment, limits team growth space, and creates a distorted company culture.
Compared to this, why not spend energy and time finding the right people? I believe any successful, mature, or long-sighted boss will make the right call.
That’s the sharing on “On Design Decisions - Advice for Bosses.”
If you’re facing this issue now, of course, your “boss” could be the company founder, or perhaps the design head or director, product manager, or product director. I suggest you try sharing this article with them, and set up some time to discuss it.
Finally, here’s an email related to this topic, written in 2010. Back then, I was at the startup Mammoth Technology (later acquired by Alibaba).
Mammoth Technology’s company sign was the coolest I’ve seen in a startup: a piece of A4 paper on the door with “Mammoth Technology” written on it. Yet, once you pushed the door open, the geeky vibe was overwhelming.
Once, over a design detail, a product manager “pestered me relentlessly,” and we ended up in a deadlock. The PM suggested “resolving it by vote.” Later, I wrote an email to the boss Misa (now Rokid founder) to discuss design decisions. Misa agreed wholeheartedly and in the following product review meeting, emphasized the decision that “design decisions should be made by the project lead designer” (while telling the team to allow and accept designer mistakes).
Misa: Discussing an issue: when there are differing opinions during product design or visual design discussions or reviews, who makes the final decision?
Design is indeed something everyone can participate in; about “usability and beauty,” everyone has different understandings. It seems everyone has a say. But ultimately, who makes the call?
Currently, in almost every stage of product review, it’s a full-on participation by everyone, majority rules. This decision-making process seems very safe, everyone approves, but it’s actually very unreliable, very dangerous (at least for design, it’s dangerous).
Such decisions are just a continuous compromise. Each time, compromise, compromise, only compromise.
A product that comes from compromise is bound to be garbage. Gradually, the product loses its edge, the designer loses their edge, the team loses its edge. I’ve always believed, professional matters should be decided by professionals.
When there’s a difference in opinion, I personally think the ideal decision-making process is:
Everyone can offer their views; the lead designer collects suggestions;
But the final decision lies with the lead designer.
Given that the designer position exists, and a designer has been hired, then they should be given enough trust and authority, with systems and processes to ensure this.
This form of decision-making seems risky but is safe. The designer might make mistakes, but this is a cost of the growth process of a new team. But if they consistently make mistakes, then there’s a problem with the designer. With trust and authority, the designer gains a sense of trust, recognition, and achievement. In return, they bring enthusiasm, self-enhancement, and improvement to the team, respect and trust for members. The entire team can develop healthily.
(Of course, this places high requirements on the designer as well: enough ability, experience, and judgment, but also enough humility to listen to others’ suggestions, not “charge blindly ahead”; thus, I suggest during company expansion and hiring designers, it must be, selectively, quality over quantity.)
My personal feeling from the recent chaos, it’s a bit messy.
Also, the team atmosphere I prefer is: modest style, assertive product.