Every Decision is a Cascade

I saw a question on LinkedIn that got designers turnt:

The responses ran the gamut, but there was a steady stream of this:

“Can you just…”
“Can you quickly…”
“This should be easy/simple…”
“It’ll be quick, I promise…”

These kinds of comments can be highly upsetting to designers for a few reasons. One of those reasons is that what can seem like a small request can have a large effect down the line. And we're trying to manage design decisions both in the now and in the cascade that occurs down the line. Also, those phrases can be a not-too-subtle way to attempt to manage time spent.

It can be difficult to gauge what is easy and what is hard.

When it comes to design (and other things) time and effort are not the same thing. Easy things can take a long time, and hard things can be quick. When someone assumes something is easy about any job, it can come across as condescending.

Time is a concrete thing, but effort can vary.

Changes can be Cosmetic or Structural.

Cosmetic changes tend to be a bit easier. Maybe swapping out a color or an image. However, a Structural change is usually much more difficult. If the request is to “change the 2-column layout to 3-column” this might seem benign, but this will start a chain reaction of redesigning every page and reflowing all the text.

Designers are playing chess.

Every decision designers make in designing, and therefore every revision or request to those designs comes with a cascade of consequences. Design involves a ton of variables that are both the ones you might easily imagine – color, font, balance – and the ones that aren’t as obvious – budget, approval, strategy, personalities, production. Design is about managing all these variables and limitations, and still coming out with a successful end result.

Sometimes designers don't get full credit for their thoughtfulness in decision-making because some of that thoughtfulness is invisible in the process.

A quick example: Say I have a text-heavy document and so I chose a condensed version of a font to keep it feeling less heavy and also to limit it to 8 pages for budgetary reasons. Maybe you don't like the font. If the font you do like is not also condensed, that has two consequences – more pages that are outside the budget, and/or a text heavier look. And that's the domino effect of one element.

So we’re always trying to plan three moves ahead and imagine how a decision will impact the final result both from a strategic perspective and a mechanical perspective. Yes, sometimes adding a comma or switching out an image is simply that. But seemingly small changes can have an outsize impact. The only way to know which decisions might cascade into issues is to ask. We may also alert you to a potential issue. Sometimes there is a work-around. Oftentimes, it’s a conversation.