Types of people you work with as a product designer
Design is incredibly visual, so everyone has an opinion!
Feedback is crucial as a designer. Sometimes we design things to get a reaction and understand how to move forward! Other times we design things after months of research and iterations. No matter where you work, with the amount of stakeholders design has to work with you may find yourself in some of the situations below.
The “every issue I come across is urgent” person.
Whether they report bugs, have a question about a feature or functionality, or have a design suggestion, this type of person thinks their situation is the most “urgent”. The truth is, every person thinks their need is the most important thing! Here are a few ways to respond:
- Make them feel heard and understood. “Thanks for reporting that!”
- Set boundaries and be prepared to say no when needed. Protect your time (and your team!). “We can get back to you next week as we are working on a number of high-priority issues at the moment.”
The “it’s easy, just add a dropdown” person.
We’ve all worked with the person who says, “why don’t you just solve it this way?” They say that everyone is a designer and by that, they mean everyone thinks they are a designer. And everything seems easy to them.
- Ask clarifying questions about their problem to solve rather than focusing on their proposed solution.
- Reiterate focusing on the problem and move away from focusing on the solution (their proposed dropdown).
- As you design the solution, solicit feedback from them to help build trust.
- We can all learn from these people. Typically, they’re just trying to help! Use them as someone to bounce ideas off of.
The “I don’t know how to use the app” person.
Being a designer, you know features inside and out! However, the rest of the company may not and some people may never want to learn. Try these tips:
- Spend time educating them instead of answering their questions directly. Guide them to click around and find the solution themself (when possible).
- Understand how much they may or may not understand the specific feature and provide resources (could be people on their team, help articles) to assist in growing their knowledge.
- Empower them to find answers on their own (ie. “Have you tried doing XYZ in the app”).
The “the product is always broken” person.
While we all know every app has bugs and being on product and design, you’re exposed to much more. It’s easy to only look through the lens of “everything is broken”, but it’s not healthy.
- Hear them out and empathize. Broken things are never fun!
- Work with product managers to provide visibility into the progress of their reported bugs.
- Follow up on the “biggest impact” bugs whether it’s product or design to help them feel heard.
The “just make it flashy” person.
It may be a designer’s pet peeve to hear feedback like, “make it flashy” or “make it pop”. It’s easy to say, but hard to articulate the true ask behind the comment.
- Ask for examples of other products they may feel accomplishes this.
- Ask for emotions they want to convey. Sometimes by sharing emotions like, “I want this to feel special” or “I want this to feel exclusive” help provide more feedback than, “make it pop”.
- Share work-in-progress examples and/or inspiration of other products that may evoke the same emotions.
All in all, design is a visual job which means people will be quick to react, but finding the solution is usually harder than people think. Treating each piece of feedback like its own mini-user research project can be fun! Ask more questions, uncover more problems, empathize, and iterate! Remember, you are the designer, not them. At the end of the day, design decisions are up to you, but as designers, it’s also helpful to rely on others for the feedback!
