As creatives, Aufait UX has firsthand experience when it comes to the varying perspectives of people on the same design rationale. As such we understand the challenges in getting everyone on the same page and the need for articulating design decisions well. Articulating design decisions acts as a means for cross-examination and validation at each step, contributing to a quality final product. This doesn’t mean that you have to agree to make all the changes suggested, but yet they positively reinforce your relationship with your stakeholder. And, in many cases, how you communicate with other designers, stakeholders, clients, or executives is more critical than the designs themselves.

It helps them better align their design decisions with business goals and ensure every design decision serves a business purpose. How can you communicate in a way that convinces your stakeholder(s) that this is the problem to focus on? Be open towards taking on feedback and suggestions, but challenge others by asking them “What problem are you trying to solve by suggesting this? By contextualizing your design choices in this way, you can demonstrate the rationale behind your decisions. As a result, designers gain better clarity about the client's requirements and objectives of the design project.

This means that you may have an incredibly innovative and problem-solving design, but you may not get the support you want or need because you can’t speak about the design or the reasoning behind it in an effective way. Responding to design feedback requires you to form your words in a way that will yield the best response by staying focused on the goal of the meeting: to get support and agreement to move forward. In many cases, how you communicate with stakeholders, clients, and other nondesigners may be more important than the designs themselves. Using sketches, wireframes, and mockups helps you illustrate your decisions in an easy-to-understand way. Clear communication of design decisions is key to building trust with clients and ensuring team alignment toward a common goal.

Talking to people about your designs might seem like a basic skill, but it can be difficult to do efficiently and well. Tom packed a lot into an hour, somehow balanced speaking with questions and exercises, and we all took away some great exercise templates. Something else that I’ve come to learn from interviews and usability tests is to repeat the statements people are saying right back to them in the form of “What I hear you saying…” and rephrasing it in a way that moves the conversation forward.A prerequisite for a good brainstorming session is that the team be clear about the challenges they need to solve and the objectives they must achieve. With a keen eye for identifying problems and brainstorming solutions, Nidhi understands user needs and creates user-centric designs. Articulating design decisions is about creating an environment in which stakeholders can see the expertise and thought process of the designers so that they want to agree with them. As I read this I thought back to all the times I’d been stubborn as I persisted towards a goal that was no longer relevant.