This presentation is about helping our clients make the right design decisions. This is important because Design decisions are not the type of decisions they are used to making. That's why they decide on aesthetics, the competition or other non-design criteria. But ultimately, Design decisions are Business decisions. So helping our clients make the right design decisions is a win/win/win for clients, designers and users. In this presentation I go through 3 business cases where we had to help clients make different types of design decisions.

1. HOW TO HELP
OUR CLIENTS
MAKE DESIGN
DECISIONS
C O N V E Y U X 2 0 1 8
Reduce friction on
the road to execution
Sol Mesz

2. Hola!
• 15+ years as Product Manager
• Partner and Director of
Product Strategy at Kambrica,
one of the leanding UX
consultancies in Argentina.
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/
solmesz/

3. WHY WE NEED TO HELP
OUR CLIENTS MAKE DESIGN
DECISIONS
• The client is always part of the
decision making process

4. WHY WE NEED TO HELP
OUR CLIENTS MAKE DESIGN
DECISIONS
• The client is always part of the
decision making process
• …but design decisions fall outside of
their area of expertise. That’s why
they choose based on aesthetics, the
competition, their own ideas, their
spouses suggestion...

5. WHY WE NEED TO HELP
OUR CLIENTS MAKE DESIGN
DECISIONS
• The client is always part of the
decisión making process
• …but the design decisions fall
outside of their area of expertise.
• And we need to help them choose
well because ultimately, design
decisions are business decisions.

6. WHY WE NEED TO HELP
OUR CLIENTS MAKE DESIGN
DECISIONS
• The client is always part of the
decisión making process
• …but the design decisions fall outside
of their area of expertise.
• And we need to help them choose
well because ultimately, design
decisions are business decisions.
• Architecting for decision making is
a win/win/win for designers, clients
and users.

7. “A decision is a choice between two or more
options that involve an irrevocable allocation
of resources”

8. “A decision is a choice between two or more
options that involve an irrevocable allocation
of resources”

9. DECISION OUTCOME≠

10. DECISION OUTCOME≠
BADGOOD

11. DECISION OUTCOME≠
GOODBAD

12. DECISION OUTCOME=
RESEARCH DECISION TEST

13. ELEMENTS OF A DECISION
DECISION MAKER
FRAME
ALTERNATIVES
DECISION MAKING
CRITERIA
INFORMATION
PREFERENCES

14. ELEMENTS OF A DECISION
DECISION MAKER
FRAME
ALTERNATIVES
DECISION MAKING
CRITERIA
INFORMATION
PREFERENCES

15. CLIENTS

16. Focuses on
visual impact
HOW CAN WE HELP
A CLIENT THAT…

17. The Client
• Hires UX but wants UI. He’s after
visual impact.
• Thinks that UX is the new cool
name for Visual Design.
• Thinks “good looks” = good
usability
• His decision-making criteria is
based on visual impact, so if UX
decisions conflict with UI, UX
will lose.

18. The Project: Redesign of
a Project Management
System
Usability was key:
• The previous system was abandoned for
being un-usable. It was replaced by XLS.
• Usage of new system was key to show ROI.
Productivity was key:
• Internal users.
• Users need to input large amounts of data
per Project.
• Small window of time to enter projects

19. Too white
Needs design
Not disruptive
Focus on UX (productivity)
F I R S T P R O P O S A L

20. I like it!
Focus on UI (visual impact)
S E C O N D P R O P O S A L

21. Lighter
less visual impact, easier to read
Heavier
more visual impact, harder to read
BACKGROUND AND CONTRAST
D E S I G N C R I T E R I A
BACKGROUND AND CONTRAST

22. USABILITY VS VISUAL IMPACT
D E S I G N D I M E N S I O N
Visualimpact
Usability

23. T H E S O L U T I O N
• Make the Client part of the
design process.
• Rationalize the design process:
• Define decision-making
criteria
• Present options mapped to
those criteria.
When the client focuses on visual impact…
This helped the client chose based on
design criteria vs “I like it”

24. Is attached to
a specific idea
HOW CAN WE HELP
A CLIENT THAT…

25. The Client
• He knows what he wants. In
fact, he’s attached to his idea.
• It is hard to present them with
other options.
• If the design doesn’t match his
idea, it will be rejected.

26. The Project: Redesign of
a records management
system
• Original design emulated a
system designed for a different
market.
• Underperfomed on key
business metrics.

29. Usability testing
RESEARCH INSIGHTS IDEATION PROTOTYPE
BUILD THE RIGHT THING BUILD THE THING RIGHT

30. T O O L S
Design Studio
Participants:
• Product decision makers
• IT and Customer support teams
• Doctors
This allowed the Client to see
how users would design the
tool.
Design ideation vs design
performance.

33. Results
Performance of the new design 3 months after launch
123%
Adoption Onboarding
and use
200%
Form
completion
160% -
690%

34. T H E S O L U T I O N
• Don’t focus on how design
performs. Show how design
emerges.
• Make the Client part of the
design generation process.
• Co-design techniques
When the client is attached to his idea…

35. Wants design to
solve a product
problem
HOW CAN WE HELP
A CLIENT THAT…

36. The Client
• The client thought he had a
design problem, but in fact was
a business problem.
• This was a case of product
definition rather than design
decisions.

37. The Project: Analytics
for physical stores
• Users were not analytics users.
• Made decisions based on
experience and sales data not
analytics.
• As a result, they didn’t have a
frame of reference for this type
of product.
• The challenge was to create a
mental model

38. T O O L S
Invert the design process
Instead of learning to build…
MEASURELEARN
BUILD

39. T O O L S
Invert the design process
Instead of learning to build…
… build to learn.
MEASURELEARN
BUILD

40. T O O L S
“Design sorting”
(a combination of card sorting with
fragments of design)
This helped:
• The user understand the
product.
• The design and product teams
to obtain insights.
We used design to facilitate
product decisions

41. T H E S O L U T I O N
• Create references
• Use visual language
• “Use design to discuss design”
• Architect for learning +
discovery
When the product is new and users have no
frame of reference…

42. CONCLUSION

43. Design the design
process
MEASURELEARN
BUILD
Use soft skills before
technical skills.

44. Design the design
process
Be flexible.
Use process as a description,
not a prescription.
RESEARCH INSIGHTS IDEATION PROTOTYPE
BUILD THE RIGHT THING BUILD THE THING RIGHT

45. Don’t make the design
process a black box
• Frame the problem
• State decision-making
criteria.
• Involve the Client in
the design decision-
making process.
Visualimpact
Usability

46. Make the Client part
of the design ideation
process
Involve rather than
educate.

47. Design for usability
Design for learning,
discovery, decision
making

48. Many thanks to…
• Santiago Bustelo
• Roman Paparella
• Team Kambrica
• Walter Becerra
• Juan Marcos Ortiz
• Yamila Martina
This presentation wouldn’t have
been possible without them.

49. ¡MUCHAS
GRACIAS!
Sol Mesz
LinkedIn, Medium: Solmesz
Also: www.solmesz.com