1 Okay.. and... ?

I can see how it is important to recognize that details must be paid attention, but I’d like to hear/read more about how such focus and care pays off in tangible, measurable ways for the end user.

I’m not saying that details are not important, and I’m not saying that there is much bad advice in this piece, but what I don’t see—and what I’d like to have seen—is an explanation of purpose. Details like rounded corners, gradients, font faces, colors, sizes, and rhythm are all very important, but it should be understood that they all have individual roles specific to overcoming the restraints and challenges set before the designer. Frivolous adjustment to detail could prove to be only disastrous regurgitation of easy-to-follow trends.

Rounded corners soften an interface and are generally more feminine and friendly. They probably wouldn’t work as a platform for a site that sells power tools. Gradients (and other lighting effects) create depth, helping guide the user’s eye through a design by providing contrast in a third dimension. They also are commonly described emotionally as sleek, modern, and tangible. Again, perhaps not good for a site selling power tools.

My point: yes details are important, but let’s not overlook the importance of understanding the purpose of our decisions in the microscopic world of our designs.

posted at 08:26 am on March 04, 2008 by Colin Williams

2 So true...

Stop worrying about how good a designer you are, and start worrying about the myriad tiny details that can elevate your work from passable to near-perfect.

So true I may have to blow it up big and stick it on my wall. I used to worry about not being a good designer. Frankly, I probably wasn’t. It was only when I learned to stop worrying and love the detail that my work got any good.

And to Colin

details are important, but let’s not overlook the importance of understanding the purpose of our decisions in the microscopic world of our designs

I think you just answered your own question. The article doesn’t even mention gradients and rounded corners, let alone imply they’re the only detail game in town. Naz is exactly saying that picking the right details and using them well is the key to making your design work.

posted at 09:09 am on March 04, 2008 by Sophie Dennis

3 What question?

The article doesn’t even mention gradients and rounded corners, let alone imply they’re the only detail game in town.

You’re right. And that’s why I feel it’s slightly incomplete (lacking details, you might say).

This article seems to say that detail is good for details sake. I just wanted to stress to other readers the importance of purposeful design decisions. Detail needs to be more than decoration.

posted at 10:05 am on March 04, 2008 by Colin Williams

4 A Great and Helpful article

I found this very helpful. Especially the bit about not being afraid to scrap it and start again. Something I need to do more and not get stuck with the first design option that comes my way. Thanks for the helpful advice.

posted at 10:14 am on March 04, 2008 by Darren Graydon

5 Can't agree more

I really can’t agree more, I just mentioned this issue on my blog few days ago.

During a design, it’s best to step away from the design occasionally—even just for lunch or a 15-minute break. Look at something else. Come back and look at your design again. Think about your first impressions.

This is really true, it really helps to go around, fetch some stuff, free your mind & come back.

posted at 12:36 pm on March 04, 2008 by Abdelrahman Osama

6 Principles

I think this article was really focused on basic design principles and self-examination – which are both extremely important. I’m not a great designer so I love these sorts of articles. I’ll take any and all the tips I can get (and I think we all should)!

my2cents

posted at 02:38 pm on March 04, 2008 by Tim Wright

7 What is a detail?

With an article like this I think some visual examples would have been helpful.

posted at 02:56 pm on March 04, 2008 by Scott Lenger

8 Don't give the client a loaded pistol

Really nice article, if not a little thin on ideas for implementing a design methodology of one’s own. You did however cover one of my pet peeves, of all the pitfalls I’ve seen designers (and developers) fall into over the years, the most insidious has to be:

Finish the design. Don’t miss a footer or a detail. Don’t say, “That’s to be filled in later—I didn’t have time.” Make the time. Don’t give any reason for others to torpedo the design or allow someone to fixate on a little detail—overshadowing the rest of the work.

I have lost weeks of my life in client/design review meetings where the whole train went off the rails because of one, pedantic, little detail like a logo using the print layout guidelines. You are being trusted as the steward of someone’s brand/product/identity and need to show your clients that you care as passionately for it as they do. Take the extra time to make sure you have buttoned up every little aspect of a design.

Additionally, I’ve got to back up Colin on this point.

Detail needs to be more than decoration.

Any aspect of a design system that doesn’t directly assist the user in getting through your design, or make the user experience significantly better, needs to be considered for the chopping block.

posted at 03:07 pm on March 04, 2008 by james vreeland

9 Untitled

One point that particularly struck home with me was

“Finish the design. Don’t miss a footer or a detail. Don’t say, “That’s to be filled in later—I didn’t have time.”

I have definitely been guilty of this on more than one occasion and I know I’m not the only one.

posted at 07:06 pm on March 04, 2008 by jamie lottering

10 Apologising to Colin...

...for posting before I’d finished my first cup of coffee and so being predictably incoherent. I think there is an underlying theme that the devil is in getting the detail right, and that by ‘detail’ we’re not simply talking decoration, but it’s perhaps a little too easy to miss it. Nonetheless Naz does say:

Tips and techniques fortify any designer’s toolkit, but I must stress that thinking critically about a design is as important as the tools and skills needed to produce it.

and

Regardless of how “cool” or “neat” a particular element may be, if it doesn’t serve your design in a useful way, get rid of it and try something new.

and of course

less is more

posted at 08:24 pm on March 04, 2008 by Sophie Dennis