Design Philosophy: Focus on the Craft
Craft is critical for product designers because the quality of details directly influences how users experience a product daily. Well-crafted interfaces feel reliable and inspire confidence. But craft involves more than just meeting basic requirements - it means meticulously refining and tailoring each touchpoint users interact with.
Craft Builds Trust
Trust is the foundation great products are built upon. Users need to know an interface works as expected every time. Users’ trust is undermined when details like clear labels, consistent visual style, and approachable voice and tone are overlooked. Minor inconsistencies weaken perceptions of quality. Well-crafted elements establish credibility and integrity.
Craft Delights
Beyond just satisfying needs, excellent craft delights users in subtle ways that bring warmth to products. Just as a master carpenter obsesses equally over sturdy joinery inside furniture drawers and the visually stunning wood grain outside, craft means care infused throughout. These considered details reward users with surprise moments of joy through interactions that emotionally bond them to products over time.
Craft Teaches Care
Meticulous attention to detail signals to users the care designers put into building an outstanding product for them. Users notice craft because it reflects the commitment of product teams to their experience. This innate care then informs how users approach collaborating with products and how they relate to other users. Craft teaches care itself.
Compound Interest of Details
Individually, details like micro-interactions, tone, and visual polish may seem trivial. But well-crafted elements compound over time into experiences inspiring passion in users. Products transcend utility when designers sweat every detail. By pouring so much care into each touchpoint, designers build outstanding products worthy of users caring about them too.
At its heart, craft roots products in care and connection. Masterfully shaped details stitch together the fabric of experiences that earn user trust, delight, and love for the long haul. Achieving such a craft in today’s online world is incredibly difficult. Agile, the leading methodology for building online experiences, is not focused on craft. It is very much focused on launching new minimally viable features. There is always a new feature to focus on and a long list of things to tidy up in the backlog. In the debate of launching a new feature or dialing in an existing feature, the new almost always wins.