Introduction

In the dynamic world of design, embracing discomfort and challenging assumptions are crucial for personal and professional growth. This blog post will discuss the importance of developing a willingness to question, cultivating a capacity for discomfort, and learning to tolerate failure. Incorporating these principles into your design practice can unlock new possibilities and foster innovation.

Willingness to Question

Being flexible in changing conditions is great, but it’s hard to get there if we can’t achieve that flexibility within ourselves. Designers need the willingness to ask questions and avoid resting on assumptions or past experiences in deciding what is true and correct in each unique situation.

Being willing to question means being willing to challenge your own ideas. It means admitting that your solution could be flawed. Moving past our ego’s attachment to our work is critical. Questioning your own ideas also invites others into dialogue. If you show you are willing to subject your ideas to open, honest inquiry, people will engage in the inquiry process with you. They’ll help you challenge your ideas; they’ll help you make your ideas better. And hopefully, they’ll invite you to challenge their ideas too.

“..being willing to question means being willing to challenge your own ideas. It means admitting that your solution could be flawed..”

Moreover, designers must be willing to question themselves, the people, and the systems that shape their work. This involves examining the environments we work in, as design is always situated in the context of human, organizational, and technological systems. To successfully create human-centered experiences, we must understand our constraints and adapt accordingly.

We also have to be willing to question ourselves in other ways. To question our best practices, proven methodologies, and universals that apply to every design problem. Staying open-minded and questioning how we work enables us to continue growing.

A Capacity for Discomfort

All of this questioning – of ourselves, questioning of our collaborators and our partners, can be an uncomfortable process.

In reality, a lot about design is uncomfortable – if you’re doing it right.

Because exploring new ideas means, by definition, you’re going places where you have not been before, doing things which you have not done until now. It can be – should be – a scary feeling. And sometimes, you feel like you are lost in the woods, wondering if you will ever find your way out. You have to be okay with that – you have to be comfortable with that uncertainty. As much as we might always want more context, information, data, and insight, we also have to be comfortable with not having all the answers. As much as the design process involves making judgments, it is often about suspending judgement. And suspending judgment can be challenging because we feel pressure to reach a conclusion.

Another source of discomfort arises when designing for people who are very different from us. It requires us to acknowledge the differences in experiences and bridge the gap between our understanding and their reality. Uncertainty is introduced when we have to bridge the gap between our own experience and the experience of other people. It can be uncomfortable because it requires us to really acknowledge how different we can be.

Tolerate Failure

One of the most uncomfortable things of design is facing failure. When our work misses the mark, it can be disheartening and lead us to question our abilities.

We drew the wrong conclusion; we gathered the wrong data, we prioritized the wrong things — we got it wrong. And inside, some of us might believe that this makes us wrong as people, as designers. You may believe that this makes you “not good enough.”

“..we need to rise above that voice of shame and own the faulty assumptions, bad judgements and unsatisfactory outcomes..”

This is yet again the ego getting in the way of sound judgment. We must rise above that voice of shame and own faulty assumptions, bad judgments, and unsatisfactory outcomes. This way, we can better understand why they were faulty, bad, or unsatisfactory. If we don’t get caught up in the ego, we can learn faster and make different choices next time.

Conclusion

Embracing the discomfort and challenging assumptions are vital components of growth as a designer. By developing a willingness to question, cultivating a capacity for discomfort, and tolerating failure, you can unlock new possibilities and continue to grow personally and professionally. As you progress in your design career, remember to apply these principles to your work and watch as your creative potential expands and flourishes.