Good Design Is Iterative

Good design is iterative. Yes, I made a blanket statement, and yes, I am standing by it.

What do I mean? Iterative design builds better products through repeated cycles of prototyping, testing, and refining based on feedback. The success of a design is also contextual, based on the current end-users, their problems they need help solving, their objective needs at the time, their subjective preferences at the time, the political climate at the time, and many other contextual factors. An iterative design approach avoids overcommitting to unproven ideas, reducing risks compared to one-shot overhauls.

The Core Process

If you're unfamiliar with how we work in the UX and Product Design fields, among many other fields that use the Design Thinking process, iterative design forms the foundation. It starts with identifying problems, brainstorming solutions, prototyping quickly, testing with users, and evaluating feedback to refine, in one big loop. Each cycle improves the design incrementally, like tweaking a recipe after taste tests until it's perfect. This method catches issues early when changes are cheap, unlike final builds where fixes are costly.

"Timeless Design" is an Unachievable Goal, but One we reach for nonetheless

There are a lot of examples of times we thought a design was timeless; that it would always be perfect. But it's always been contextual.

Many people hailed mid-century modernism, like Helvetica, white space, and geometric grids, as eternally "timeless," but it's now seen as a culturally biased aesthetic dominating branding. Shiplap panelling (something my wife had to teach me about, because I thought she was just making a funny noise– Shaplap shaplap) was once ubiquitous in farmhouse and coastal styles, deemed versatile and enduring, yet designers now call it overdone and dated, favouring modern wood applications instead. Millennial gray walls followed suit, initially prized for neutrality but now regretted as cold and trendy. Again, it depends on the audience you're talking to, and their personal contexts.

Big Redesign Failures

Companies often harm themselves with abrupt overhauls that ignore user attachment, leading to backlash and sales drops. I have experienced this first-hand at many organizations, as executives had to learn the hard way not to toss the baby out with the bath water.

The Gap

In 2010, The Gap swapped to Helvetica in a blue box for their logo. It took them 6 days to revert back after 20 years of brand equity were erased by not listening to their customers. There was no buildup to the change, it ignored an expression of familiarity people had with the original logo, and it ultimately cost them a hella ton of money to undo.

Tropicana

In 2009, Tropicana removed their iconic orange straw icon to make a more minimalist carton. They saw a 20% sales drop (a reported $30 million) in 2 months (I didn't even realize orange juice was that big a market until I originally heard about this). They misunderstood their audience and how they quickly recognized their brand on shelves. One of many misteps over the years by companies that bought into minimalism while accidentally removing what made their brand feel at home to people.

Twitter/X

Not sure if I want to touch this one, but... In 2023, Twitter rebranded from the cute bird logo to X. Many other significant cultural changes followed to reflect leaving the friendly image behind, ultimately leading to the valuation decreasing by over 70%, losses to revenue, and losing traction with advertising partners. They discarded a valuable name and presence.

Coca-Cola

One that I still hear people talk about to this day (which always surprises me), in 1985 there was a new formula of Coke introduced. People were angry. People are still angry. There were massive complaints that caused them to revert back to Coke Classic after 79 days. They had removed the beloved original taste of coke without careful iteration and understanding of their customers.

I eat my own dog food

With iterative design/design thinking in mind, I approach my own properties this way. My spencergoldade.ca website, for example, is constantly in flux. If I receive feedback from family and friends, or during an interview, I catalogue it and implement it. I also actively invite feedback at different intervals of the year.

I'd like to thank fellow designers Alain, Jamie, Trevor, and Danny for their feedback that led to the following updates:

• Headings across the entire site adjusted for readability and to help emphasize the hierarchy. Size, font, and spacing adjustments.
• Several accessibility and SEO improvements, like ensuring several duplicate H1 headings were removed, and that headlines in general follow their proper parent-child sequence.
• Layout updates to many case studies to add visual interest.
• Differentiating the visual style between H2 headings and metadata on posts.
• Removing redundant styles to aid page load and not confuse myself later.
• Increasing the size and letter-spacing on navigation items.
• Adjusting the background colour to be slightly lighter to aid readability and contrast.
• Increasing the line-height of some headings.
• Increased spacing for several sections and templates.

And there's more to come. After big swaths of updates like this I then like to do a more holistic pass and tighten things up. Soon to come.