This is a classic designer’s mistake: you start off exploring a big, ambiguous problem. You have a cool concept in your head. You sketch it out. Looks sweet! Excitement builds! You start working on a high-fidelity mock or prototype. So sick! The design questions start piling up. Should you go with black or white as the background? Maybe the buttons should be round. Oh! This would be a great use case for that new nav idea you’ve been thinking about! Before you know it, 80% of the design time has been on refining one idea instead of exploring multiple ideas.

Maybe your first idea is always the best idea. Maybe you’re that person who touches things and then they turn to gold. I wouldn’t bet on it. You’re better off not falling in love with your first idea and instead doing broader explorations on a number of different systems, models, and approaches when you’re in the exploration stage. At this point, specific interaction and visual details only matter in that they need to be clear enough to support the story you’re trying to tell with your concept so that others can understand it and help you critique it. Any addition time spent refining the concept is like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Too often, I see designers getting so enamored with deep-diving on one idea that they don’t leave themselves any room to explore other very different—and potentially much better—ideas.

Julie Zhuo.