ARTICLE SUMMARY: No matter if it’s a game, a battle, or a business venture, having a strategy is crucial. Without a clear plan, your chances of success are significantly reduced. Design is no different.
Design strategy is about understanding your users, your business, and your market to shape product goals and build the right things at the right time. It involves generating profitable ideas and assessing other products’ potential success with confidence.
“‘Doing strategy’ as a product designer” by Ted Goas looks at his journey to becoming a Senior Product Designer and his realization that he didn’t fully understand the importance of strategy in product design. In this article he discusses
- What Strategy Isn’t
- What Strategy Is
- What it look like in Practice
To think strategically, you must develop a new mindset. You need to understand what sets your company apart from your competitors, how it earns or loses money, and how to balance user experience with business goals.
Design leaders need more than just design skills, they need to be able to develop design strategies. Without a design strategy product development lacks direction leading to wasted resources, poor user experience, and misalignment with business goals. This can result in low engagement, weak market fit, and financial losses. A strong strategy ensures alignment between user needs and business success.
This is a great article, especially for designers entering into leadership roles.
Let us know what you think in the comments.
