8 Tips when working on digital design projects

With our digital design studio Booreiland we've done many projects over the past years, most of them involving team work together with our clients. And while all these projects may differ from each other, the creative processes—and possible bumps on the road—when working in a team are often quite similar. Therefore we'd like to give you 8 tips on how to get the most out of your team collaboration the next time you'll be working on a digital project.

1. State your problems and wishes

Perhaps you already have a clear design brief, and you’ve even thought of some solutions for yourself. Still, it’s of great value to go back to the core and clearly state your problems and wishes within your team. When you explain them in great detail, it’s more likely they can truly understand your pains and start seeking for the best possible design solutions.

2. It’s tempting to want it all

When hearing about all the possibilities in the digital domain, it’s tempting to say everything should be included in your interactive product. However, bear in mind that you want your message to your customer to be crystal clear and adding more and more functionalities often makes this initial message only fuzzier. In our experience over the years we’ve seen that simplicity forms the basis for successful communication.

3. Think for your customer

Along the way you’ll probably notice design follows some universal rules, but personal taste also plays a role. When deciding on colors, fonts and other design elements, try to think what your customer would like to see, rather than deciding merely upon your own taste. User centered design is an important aspect when creating an interactive product.

4. Focus on content creation

Having initial content such as images and texts makes it able to decide upon page composition, user flow etc. But at the same time it’s often hard to come up with texts and visuals before having seen how the interactive product will look. Therefore content and design should be carried out as parallel tasks, meaning you should start with content creation right from the start as well.

5. It takes a leader to decide

Deciding on content, functionalities and design concepts is not an easy task. But it will already be such a relief if it’s clear in your organisation who decides. Is it you? Is it someone else in a different department? Is it a whole board? As long as decisions are made within a reasonable amount of time all is fine, so dare to take the lead in the decision making process.

6. Work in feedback rounds

Clear internal communication is a must to make any project a success, especially when it comes to feedback on design proposals. Rather than sending several mails with feedback, we recommend your team to work with feedback rounds. You collect all the feedback from your decision makers, and send it as one batch to your fellow team members. This allows you to index, manage and implement feedback properly.

7. There will be complexities

Design projects involve innovation, and innovation demands an open mind towards uncertainty. As much as you can plan and use your past experience, it’s likely you will come across unforeseen complexities. So do expect difficulties along the way, and try to tackle them as a team. Nobody said it was easy!

8. It’s a work in progress

You'll probably want to keep your interactive product up-to-date and optimize it as you see fit. During the initial design process it could happen that you’re unsure about certain design or usability details. We advise you to just put the product out there for a while, have it used by your customers, and evaluate after a while which things should be optimized.

Read more about how we do things and see our work on: Booreiland.nl