Are Good Designers Also Good at OOO?

5 Things to Try When You're Stuck on Your Work

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Writing and design are quite similar

Here on the Alarmy design team, our very first workflow step before even firing up Figma is writing. It’s about fully understanding the PO's product spec, and sketching out in words what we need to do as designers—who we are targeting and what strategies we'll use to solve their problems. From what I’ve experienced so far, there is a massive difference in both the time it takes and the quality of the final output when we do this step versus when we don't. That's because when we structurally map out our thoughts through writing before designing—imagining our goal alignment, the story for our target audience, and the appropriate UI beforehand—it becomes much clearer exactly what kind of design we need to create.

Writing and design share a lot of similarities. I think you'll agree when you consider that both good writing and good design are defined by how well they suit their purpose and audience. The process of creating the final product—and refining your thoughts to make that product even better—is incredibly similar for both. In fact, sometimes writing is actually more effective than designing when it comes to extracting a clear core message. That’s why Alarmy designers sometimes stop everything and focus solely on writing when a design isn't working out.

As you can see, for Alarmy designers, writing and design are extremely vital tools for delivering better results. Since I've personally been focusing a lot on writing lately, I decided to summarize the shared process of writing and design for achieving a better output.

Setting the purpose and target is the very first step

Before starting either writing or design, the very first thing we must do is define the purpose. 어떤 것을 전달할 것인가 and 누가 읽을 것인가 need to be razor-sharp. If it isn't clear what you are delivering and to whom, the final output will be blurry, even if it has a physical shape.

If your purpose and target are vague, or if your thoughts just aren't organized yet, try lightly jotting down your initial burst of ideas or doing a really rough design pass. As you visualize the thoughts in your head, you'll often discover what you actually intended to do hidden within those visualized outputs. Just keep in mind that this is an extraction process to find your purpose, not the process of making the final product!

Thinking about what kind of story flow to use

How you structure information and the order in which you present it makes a huge difference in the effectiveness of the message and the experience you are trying to deliver. Depending on the message, a bottom-line-up-front structure that shows the result first might be effective, or a build-up structure that explains the background before revealing the conclusion might work better.

The same goes for design. A checkout page where the final discounted price matters most might show the result upfront, whereas a persuasion page meant to pitch value might show the current state and problem first, finally revealing the transformative results at the end.
Figuring out which narrative flow fits your purpose and building that structural flow of information is step two.

Organizing and trimming down

Once you've got a decent structure from beginning to end, you need to put on your most objective lenses, because this fourth step is crucial. Assuming your structure is solid, the first thing to do is figure out if redundant information is fragmented all over the place. Information in the same context needs to be grouped together to elevate its importance. Be careful, as its impact can weaken when scattered.

Next comes the hardest part: trimming things down. I think I still struggle with this the most. Because clear communication is essential in both writing and design, keeping only the core is always the most important—yet most difficult—thing to do. You have to lower your ambitions a bit and boldly strip away 알았으면 좋겠다하는 정보 , leaving behind only 꼭 알아야하는 정보. You get much closer to a great output when you execute this trimming phase well, so I recommend experimenting with it a lot.

Reviewing and getting feedback

If you’ve completed the process up to this point, you're practically done. Your lonely, painful time is now over. (Now there's just the mild pain of taking in other people's opinions and sorting through them 🙃)

Look at the output again and check if it aligns well with your initial purpose and if the core message is shining through. If you can judge that clearly, it might be a beautifully happy ending, but more often than not, you'll feel a bit iffy. You've probably been way too focused and buried in the process up until now. When it's hard for your own eyes to be objective, that's the perfect time to share. Get feedback from people who can provide diverse perspectives on your work. You'll soon start seeing things that need revising all over again.

Actually...

The truth is, you might not always be able to crush these steps one by one in perfect order. You might jump back to the purpose phase while setting up the structure, or even go all the way back to square one during the review phase. Sometimes going in circles like that might make you feel like losing your mind, but don't give up. The more painful the process, the closer you'll get to a better result.

Tips for when you aren't satisfied with the process!

Winning with sheer volume
With writing and design, it really feels like the more you create, the better you get the hang of it. Early on, you obviously won't be thrilled with the quality of your output. Even right at this moment as I write this post, I'm not totally satisfied with my result, but I'm pushing through with the mindset of just making a lot of things. Get used to producing results and focus first on trying out various methods. Once you're comfortable with that phase, the path to better quality will naturally reveal itself.

Look around and copy
While producing a lot of results is important, you also need to be able to evaluate quality yourself to find areas for improvement in your own work. I highly recommend looking at many other people's work and trying to emulate it. The only way to figure out what specific elements make a high-quality output is to see a lot of them. Follow along and compare: ask yourself why that person's work looks awesome, and what parts of your own work you need to change to achieve that same look.

A cliché but surefire refresh
When you focus incredibly hard on your work, there always seems to come a frustrating moment when your mind just goes completely blank. If you hit that wall, just cleanly step away from your desk. You can work on a different task or physically move to another location. Forget about the output you were working on for a little while. When you refresh yourself and come back, you'll start seeing things you missed before.