“You can only make it once but you can make it better as many times as you need”

Clients rarely arrive at a design firm with a detailed project roadmap in hand. Instead, they have a hazy idea of what they require – make it pop, bring a wow factor, make it look good, and so on. In such cases, the designer’s main challenge is to get into the clients’ heads and create things exactly how they want the product to look, even if the clients themselves lack understanding.

The best way to ensure your design is a perfect fit is to work in iterations. This allows us to create a solution that satisfies the client and meets the needs of the customer.

Iteration, the most fundamental concept in design

In its most basic form, iteration is simply a series of steps that you repeat, tweaking and improving your product each time. With every repetition, iteration aims to move a little bit closer to the optimal situation. As designers, we are always looking to improve on the current design approach and this is where an iterative design process comes in handy.

​​You can think of the iterative design process as a continuous cycle of prototyping, testing, and making adjustments and refinements – it is an ongoing, incremental process leading to the best possible outcome.

It’s fascinating to observe how the product gradually changed the appearance of its own homepage, going from its ugly beginnings to its current minimalism to align with the current design trends and in response to user feedback.

The do’s and don’ts of design Iteration

1. Do: Fail Faster
   Embrace trial and error to learn what not to do even when you miss the mark by adopting a “fail faster” mentality. Since failure is unavoidable, it is best to deal with it as soon as possible while still taking note of what can be learned.

2. Do: Be Flexible
   Design methodologies still allow for some flexibility even though they have strict guidelines to help us express our creative freedom without devoting too much time to each iteration. In the end, we must choose which opportunities to prioritize first