How do you handle failure as a designer?

It's okay to be disappointed, frustrated, or even downright angry. This is a part of the process. Acknowledging these emotions helps me to understand what went wrong and prepare for the next step.

Failure is part of life, and it has proven to be a useful tool If we believe in the constant evolution of humankind. Each failure is a push to step forward, and each success is a step to pause and rejoice. Design in itself is an evolutionary process. Even the great designs are redundant after a point and bound to fail as per the current needs of the user & the environment. Otherwise the world would have still used stones for warfare or we would have gotten stuck in using floppy disks. After each failure there are 3 steps to cope and move. 1. Acknowledgement & process the failure. 2. Unbiased assessment and make notes. 3. Deep dive in past experience, take opinions, upskill if needed - weigh all information, distill and start anew.

Lots of great insights here- I will just add that getting out there and "trying something" ...anything(!) will ALWAYS include failures of some kind, but at the same time, by simply getting out there and trying something new or fresh or singular, failures notwithstanding, you immediately place yourself in a rare and special category of those who have looked at the world, and not accepted it as it was presented to them. Your failure itself is evidence that you are trying, and that is actually a hallmark of some of the best and brightest. Read the Man in the Arena passage from T Roosevelt's Citizenship in a Republic speech again. It is a grand reminder. Stay curious.

As a designer, failure can be tough, but I've learned to handle it positively. When faced with failure, I believe in analyzing what went wrong without dwelling on self-doubt. I see it as an opportunity to grow and improve my skills. I seek feedback from clients, colleagues, and even users to understand their perspectives. This helps me gain valuable insights and make necessary adjustments. I also embrace the power of perseverance, using failure as a stepping stone to success. By staying curious, adaptable, and open to learning, I turn failure into a catalyst for personal and professional growth.

It might help to identify the roots of the failure- external or internal. If there were external factors (you were very stressed, dealing with a major life event, etc.) that affected your performance, first acknowledge that; but then also think about how you might handle that in the future. For example in a similar future scenario, it might be best alert your manager or your team that things were overwhelming in other areas of your life and you needed support. If the failure was intrinsic to the project itself (poor communications, design criteria were near impossible to achieve, poor team dynamic or project management, etc) then that's something that you can work on moving forward. >Nobody's perfect<, we can only endeavor to improve.

Once you analyse the feedback carry out research on areas you may have previously overlooked or had little information on. This will help in improving the design as you will have gathered more knowledge on how to approach the design process and execute the desires of your client.

I once asked for feedback as to why I didn't get the design position I had just applied for. It was crushing; they said I wasn't creative. So, after I wiped the tears from my face, I took a moment, stepped back, and realized I was playing it safe with the designs I had submitted. It was hard to process, but it helped me grow and prepare for the next opportunities.

The client, my boss and fellow workers who will be building and running the die or tooling all have input. It is a group effort. It is the client's responsibility to understand how to operate the tooling. I have had some who have thrown in so many variables that it is impossible for them to u b derstand how to operate it.

There's no room for ego if you want to be a great designer. Great designers build effective solutions to their clients problems, and ultimately improve their lives in doing so. Every time you fail you learn a little more, and chances are you didn't listen, really listen to your clients pain points. Spend more time listening and understanding your clients. You will still fail occasionally, but atleast you'll know why.

Fail fast learn fast — Be open and seek early and frequent feedback. Embrace feedback from a range of sources to enhance your designs. Engage users, stakeholders, and fellow designers at every stage of the process. For example, by conducting user testing sessions, you can gain valuable insights into usability. Additionally, incorporating feedback from stakeholders ensures that your designs align with business objectives. Seeking feedback early and often enables timely improvements and prevents becoming overly attached to your designs.

Most people define failure as 'not reaching your targets'. I disagree with this definition. I find that when targets are not met, I discover insights that allow me to reconfigure my approach for the next test. This is the nature of innovation. You can't reach your target without innovating and you can't innovate without failing. Failure is part of the formula for success.

You tackle the problem and move on. Just because it didn't work for this application doesn't mean it won't work for another in the future.

No one likes to admit when they feel they have failed. One thing that I’ve found helpful is to reignite the fire that made me fall in love with my profession to begin with; whether that is flipping through old sketchbooks, listening to certain music, or simply framing that degree on a wall. Other inspiration hacks include uplifting podcast, new movie/book that can spark creative flow.

Same way, I handle product failure. Like a washing machine, AC, or that XBOX controller that fails at times. I feel the creativity we have is a product of ours. And it can fail at times. Designs fail, designers fail. That’s how this creativity gets evolved. So rather than taking it as a setback, it is best to try to figure out the crux of the failure. Often the root cause is a mix of various factors which may not be in our hand. Maybe getting a new part can fix the damn machine, so in our case, maybe investing in some tools, or knowledge can fix my failure. These can be my work ethics, the style, understanding new technology or just how to manage a brief well. It is good to celebrate design failures.

Experienced people are people that have made many mistakes and learnt from them, hopefully. I am pretty experienced, meaning I have made very many mistakes along the way.

In UX design, true progress should not only be measured by success but by our ability to embrace failures, extract valuable lessons from them, and skillfully transform these setbacks into measurable success stories.

Failure is a construct of a failed thought process. R&D, product development, science in general relies on failure to determine the next test that determines the next and onward until the goal is reached. That goal doesn't always conform to our hypothesis which is not a failure at all but a discovery. It's not exactly the glass half full but rather more like rain, a lot of drops to soak the ground to grow the seed to eat the fruit.

First of all, it needs to accept the mistake and improve it; its not necessarily on part of a designer but sometimes some policies etc. There once came a case where the bridge transom was casted and it started to show flexure cracks on top of the overhang. The reason was that strut-and-tie method wasn’t used but the designer took the stance that as its the construction from 2007 wherein the newly developed AASHTO LRFD 2007 itself allows the use of previous code for say 2008, therefore, as strut n tie wasn’t part of previous versions of AASHTO so designer isn’t at fault. But learning from your mistake and if need arises,correcting the mistake is essential so that remedial measures can be taken and future designs are free of the same error.

What is meant by failure? As a designer I have found that there are many points at which things can go wrong but which may not result in “failure”. So, you may a perfect design and it may not work commercially. Or you may do an imperfect (to your eyes) design that is very successful commercially. Both have elements of failure and success. You might not get paid, that is a failure. Or you may fail on a technical aspect, which is unquestionably a failure; which you hope to rectify. Your process or procedures might have failings, which you should rectify. You may design an ugly product, which some might consider a failure. However, if you learn from all these mistakes you are considered experienced.

I have had 1 client who threw so many different variables into the design he wanted in the die it became a nightmare. When he received the finished die and all the changeover parts to his requirements he couldn't understand how to run the die and he refused it and wouldn't pay for it. All along during the process of designing we tried to make him understand what he was getting himself into to no avail.

Many times reaching failure is more difficult when a client feels a part of the work being done and there's sufficient transparency that the end result is achieved with the client's prior knowledge throughout the process. This isn't always possible in every industry, but I've found it to be an important factor in successful outcomes.