Articulating Design Decisions: Communicate with Stakeholders, Keep Your Sanity, and Deliver the Best User Experience
- Downloads：3331
- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2022-02-13 09:54:21
- Update Date：2025-09-07
- Status：finish
- Author：Tom Greever
- ISBN：1492079227
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
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Summary
Talking to people about your designs might seem like a basic skill， but it can be difficult to do well。 In many cases， how you communicate with stakeholders， clients， and other non-designers may be more important than the designs themselves。 Because if you can't get their support， your work will never see the light of day—no matter how good it is。
This practical guide focuses on principles， tactics， and actionable methods for presenting your designs。 Whether you design apps， websites， or products， you'll learn how to get support from people who have influence over the project with the goal of creating the best user experience。
Walk through the process of preparing and presenting your designs
Understand stakeholder perspectives and learn how to empathize with them
Cultivate both implicit and explicit listening skills
Learn tactics and strategies for expressing the most effective response to feedback
Create the right documentation for your decisions to avoid repeated conversations
Learn why following through is just as important as the meeting itself
This practical guide focuses on principles， tactics， and actionable methods for presenting your designs。 Whether you design apps， websites， or products， you'll learn how to get support from people who have influence over the project with the goal of creating the best user experience。
Walk through the process of preparing and presenting your designs
Understand stakeholder perspectives and learn how to empathize with them
Cultivate both implicit and explicit listening skills
Learn tactics and strategies for expressing the most effective response to feedback
Create the right documentation for your decisions to avoid repeated conversations
Learn why following through is just as important as the meeting itself
Reviews
Peter
，
Could have been condensed to a far shorter article。
Vyoma Patel
，
If you are in an organization which does not value UX Design， does not include it in its product vision and does not recognize its contribution to business goals - yet still hires you as a UX Designer and insists on creating "usable products" - it can become very lonely。 Articulating design here becomes more important than the designs itself。 For this the book offers not only useful advice but also comfort in letting you know your situation is quite common。 If you are in an organization which does not value UX Design， does not include it in its product vision and does not recognize its contribution to business goals - yet still hires you as a UX Designer and insists on creating "usable products" - it can become very lonely。 Articulating design here becomes more important than the designs itself。 For this the book offers not only useful advice but also comfort in letting you know your situation is quite common。 。。。more
Luz Delgado
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This book gave me a slap but in a good way because。 It is a reminder of the process necessary as a designer to communicate our decisions to multidisciplinary teams。 This book allows you to anchor things that seem obvious but that you can forget on a daily basis。
Jason
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I'll definitely be recommending this book to designers and product managers， the scenarios described by Greever are familiar to us all and he reverse engineers his own success and failures to provide a very practical guide for design communcation。 I'll definitely be recommending this book to designers and product managers， the scenarios described by Greever are familiar to us all and he reverse engineers his own success and failures to provide a very practical guide for design communcation。 。。。more
Sean
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Reading a few of Steve Krug's books have set my bar very high for how impactful and concise a design book should be。 This book is 250 pages， but could really be solid at 120。 Reading a few of Steve Krug's books have set my bar very high for how impactful and concise a design book should be。 This book is 250 pages， but could really be solid at 120。 。。。more
Leah Wang
，
An inspiring book with lots of great examples， which made it easy to follow and practice。
Kayode
，
This should be required reading for everyone/team tasked with design。
Itamar Medeiros
，
Articulating Design Decisions is probably one of the best resources for designers to engage with stakeholders and ensure design vision moves forward: it provides practical tips for how to conduct design critiques， how to deal with non-constructive feedback， and how to address response。
Bridget
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Often books like this don’t tell you anything you don’t know， yet it feels so good to see what you know codified and distilled。 I adore Ch 3-5。 Could do without the preacher lsst chapter to non-designers。 Great for design， content， marketing。。。 anybody who has to present their ideas for approval。
Miroslav Pavelek
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Most of the content is quite basic， but still it was nice reading。
Beth McGoldrick
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This book， Articulating Design Decisions by Tom Greever， is terrific。 If you are looking for a book that helps you prepare to present your visual design to stakeholders， get this book。 Tom does a great job of helping you prepare for the meetings you will need to get stakeholder buy-in， using real world examples。 Read this book， create your list of possible objections and answers， and put your support team together。 Then you will have a great presentation。
Will Sertório
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Every designer should read this。 The author shows a framework to stand your ground， make others feel listened and move the work forward。The only con I found is that most of the author experiences are from a consultancy point of view， where big meetings with the client are the norm。On startups， work moves faster， but still those tips are valuable。
Jacob Ville
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I got this book hoping to improve my language around justifying design decisions to others。 While this book was not that， I found it surprisingly valuable， maybe more than if I found what I was looking for。 It's helped guide my decision-making （and therefore give better explanations）， and my presentations have more focus and structure。 A worthwhile read。 I got this book hoping to improve my language around justifying design decisions to others。 While this book was not that， I found it surprisingly valuable， maybe more than if I found what I was looking for。 It's helped guide my decision-making （and therefore give better explanations）， and my presentations have more focus and structure。 A worthwhile read。 。。。more
Chris
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Smart at some points， tiring at others。 Maybe I’m just describing myself？
CP
，
although it is aimed at designers it is a great read for anyone who works on product teams or is engaged in stakeholder management。 you won’t find a blueprint for formulating and articulating the intention behind your designs here， but the book offers plenty of ideas to help you get support for your decisions。
Navneet Nair
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Very nicely articulated 😁 lots of good suggestions and strategies to communicate design effectively
Daniel Noventa
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Interesting peak into the software development from the lens of a designer。
Karen
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Some of this may already be obvious to you if you are a “people” person or have had enough experience being a working adult。 Nevertheless， this was an engaging refresher with some interesting anecdotes。
Fatih
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Great UX design happens not only when it solves problems and is easy for users， but also when aligned with everyone within the product/service team。 And how we do the last part？ this is the guiding book to do it。 I believe that every designers should read this， as early as when they're in college or early of their careers。 This will help a lot。 Even myself still improving my communication capability to convince stakeholders on design thought process and decisions。 Great UX design happens not only when it solves problems and is easy for users， but also when aligned with everyone within the product/service team。 And how we do the last part？ this is the guiding book to do it。 I believe that every designers should read this， as early as when they're in college or early of their careers。 This will help a lot。 Even myself still improving my communication capability to convince stakeholders on design thought process and decisions。 。。。more
Félix Jofré
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Articulating Design Decisions is an excellent book on communication， not just for designers but valuable for anyone in a development team。 As a Project Manager， I found it useful to understand the designer's perspective and respect their ownership， expertise， and autonomy。 It also helped me articulate my project reports， status updates， and managing bosses and stakeholders better。 4 stars instead of 5 as it could be more straight to the point and reduce anecdote length。 Articulating Design Decisions is an excellent book on communication， not just for designers but valuable for anyone in a development team。 As a Project Manager， I found it useful to understand the designer's perspective and respect their ownership， expertise， and autonomy。 It also helped me articulate my project reports， status updates， and managing bosses and stakeholders better。 4 stars instead of 5 as it could be more straight to the point and reduce anecdote length。 。。。more
Lau Riva Palacio
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This book contains actionable tips and step by step instructions on how to improve you communications skills。If you’re a designer that works directly with clients and stakeholders this book is for you。10/10 would definitely recommend。
Ryan Brownhill
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The book I needed in design school！ Loved this book。 Showcases practical behaviors and examples on the best way to communicate with stakeholders and advocate designs， iterate and reach alignment。
Kate
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Did not finish。 I gave up after the author alleged that single people without children are pathetic。
Dammy Samson
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Great book with a number of actionable tips on creating and maintaining a good relationship with stakeholders， clients and whoever else you may be working with。 Essential read for designers， also good for people who have to communicate with them。Would say some parts came across somewhat manipulative and other parts a bit "woe is me" but still a good book。 Also believe some parts could have been edited down。 Great book with a number of actionable tips on creating and maintaining a good relationship with stakeholders， clients and whoever else you may be working with。 Essential read for designers， also good for people who have to communicate with them。Would say some parts came across somewhat manipulative and other parts a bit "woe is me" but still a good book。 Also believe some parts could have been edited down。 。。。more
Andrew Mowe
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Meh。 We read it at work and it was pretty roundly disliked by everyone
Anddy Gutierrez
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Cada que tengo un momento de indecisión， de sindrome del impostor de como hablar de diseño con cualquier área de negocio， el periquito verde es mi safe spot para recordarme todo lo que debo （y no debo） hacer。Es mi biblia de comunicación de diseño。
Anastasiia
，
I definitely recommend it in case if you’d like to improve your client facing， communication， empathy skills （I’d say for jun-mid level）。 This book helped me to find answers for my questions:How to build good relationships with the client/project team？How to anticipate questions from client/team and handle them during demos？How to deal with client’s/teams feedback （if you believe its not appropriate）？What additional moves you can make to get support from the client/team？ … and more
meandermind
，
I'm torn。 The content of this book is extremely useful but it also left me with a bad taste in my mouth， and it's all because I checked one of the sources。 It was the chapter on using charm to succeed， and quotes were taken from an online charm tutorial of sorts: "How to use charm to get women"。 The fact that I got two popups on entering the site didn't exactly calm me down : "Send Her 10 texts for free"。 So， meanwhile I conceed that there is definitely need for ux designers to practice design r I'm torn。 The content of this book is extremely useful but it also left me with a bad taste in my mouth， and it's all because I checked one of the sources。 It was the chapter on using charm to succeed， and quotes were taken from an online charm tutorial of sorts: "How to use charm to get women"。 The fact that I got two popups on entering the site didn't exactly calm me down : "Send Her 10 texts for free"。 So， meanwhile I conceed that there is definitely need for ux designers to practice design reviews with stakeholders， I most certainly hope that other means than deviously trying to sneak into the staleholders figurative pants， and I certainly wish the author would take a clear stand on this with a disclaimer: " I don't think neil straussian pickup methods should have a place in the board room"。I actually did have a conversation with the author but didn't get the chance to press him on this matter， although he seems a very humble man and he did emphasize that his tips should not be used for harm。 Another strange part that may be more of a cultural thing was the part with the gifts， that you should regularly send thoughtful gifts to higher-ups in the company。 From a Swedish "jamstalldhet" perspective this seems very foreign， as does the general description of how hard it is to convince stakeholders to trust you - I think swedes have a more casual relationship with higher ranking coworkers than americans， and of course thid book was written five years ago so the UX field has taken enormous leaps since then。 Apart from those things this is a very useful book for applying conscious strategies in dealing with design - I will certainly make sure my intuitively made design decisions have support in common practice or user research。 Also the "start with a yes" thing is very useful in making your stakeholders feel that you've heard their opinions。 。。。more
Kira Laktionov
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It's a good book for a designer who only begins their career in a design agency or a product company。 With the basic rules and meeting frameworks， including tons of good case practices and personal experiences （maybe too many？ I was mostly skimming those）， it can set a good tone for communicating the design work to stakeholders。 Add a pinch of creativity motivation as a cherry on top， it's an easy read。 It's a good book for a designer who only begins their career in a design agency or a product company。 With the basic rules and meeting frameworks， including tons of good case practices and personal experiences （maybe too many？ I was mostly skimming those）， it can set a good tone for communicating the design work to stakeholders。 Add a pinch of creativity motivation as a cherry on top， it's an easy read。 。。。more
Marcela
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