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Design Operations: Definition, Pillars, and How to Apply It
Table of Contents
Design operations play an important role in the design process to make it more efficient. Learn about its definition, pillars, and application in this article.
Design operations play an important role in ensuring the design team can operate efficiently and optimally.
In the business world, design is not only a stage in the product's development, but also affects the customer's experience and perception of a brand.
For example, a color combination that is too vibrant, a font size that is too small, and the position of visual elements that is not symmetrical. Some of these small things will make it difficult for the audience to capture what is conveyed in a design.
Customers will doubt the credibility of the company and become not interested in buying your product or service after seeing the banner design has many imperfections.
If you don't want this to happen, then the designers need to understand what design operations are.
This article will discuss more in detail about design operations starting from the definition, its importance for the design team, and how to implement it in the design team in your company. Check out the explanation below.
What Is Design Operations?
Design operations or design ops is a strategy on how a design team can run the design process more efficiently and effectively.
Design ops organize everything related to the design workflow so that the designer can complete their work well, faster, and with maximum results.
The Importance of Design Ops
In the product development process, the designer usually has to complete their task first so that the developers can continue their work. This will take a lot of time and extend the completion period of a project.
Design ops allows the design team and the development team to collaborate in building a repeatable design that successfully achieves the goals of their project.
In addition, design ops also help design teams manage design procedures, create effective feedback systems, build better coordination among teams, manage design tools, and improve the design culture within the company.
4 Pillars of Design Operations
Design operations have four pillars that can support design activities, which are the design process, team coordination, design tools, and also design culture. Here are the explanations of the four pillars.
1. Design Process
In the design process, the designer may encounter problems. Therefore, it is very important to create a structured workflow. Here are some of the things the design team usually does:
Identify gaps and weaknesses in the process.
Conduct surveys or interviews with teams or clients to find out the problems and solutions.
Maximize workflows by collaborating and reducing repetitive work.
Define clear success metrics and make sure the designer follows them. The metrics are chosen according to the business objectives.
Review design deliverables to ensure the best design quality.
Practice good meeting etiquette and reduce unnecessary meetings to make them more productive.
Establish clear procedures for presenting design deliverables. Determine who needs to see the work, and when.
2. Team Coordination
In addition, design ops also have a role in the business aspect of design. The design team will be involved in the following three things:
Budget: Find out why and how much it costs to run a design team. This is to ensure transparency and clarity about the budget.
Recruitment: The design team is also responsible for how many and what skills the team members need to complete the design project.
Freedom: Give designers the freedom to focus on their design work resulting in good quality.
3. Design Tools
You also need to determine what tools or software are needed to support the work of the design team to make it more efficient. For example, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Canva, Figma, and many more. Choose software according to your design needs.
4. Design Culture
Design culture is one of the important elements for the well-being of the designer in your team. In other words, building a design culture is tantamount to creating a healthy work environment.
Here are some things you should consider when building a design culture:
Training: Find out what skills your design team needs to develop. Organize training to help them develop their skills.
Retention: Protect your designer from turnover by creating a healthy and supportive work environment for their work.
Accountability: The company is responsible for holding designers accountable for the work they produce.
How to Implement Design Operations in a Company
After knowing the definition, pillars, and importance of design operations, you can apply it to the design team in your company. Here are some ways to implement it:
1. Focus on One Role
Usually, the designers do not only create designs, but they also need to do various tasks such as conducting user research, designing information architecture, completing user interfaces, and writing copy for user experience.
If a designer works in a small-scale team or startup, it will certainly burden them and affect the quality of their work.
Therefore, it is very important for companies to only assign one role to them so that the quality of the work is ensured.
2. Maximize the Design Process
Design ops help you organize tasks by deciding which ones are most important to do right away, which ones can wait, and which ones aren’t necessary at all.
This will save the time to focus on the important tasks. In addition, it also helps the company not to make unnecessary hires.
3. Provide Design Tools
Nowadays, designers don't have to work in an office and they can work anywhere. Companies need to provide design tools and software that can support the work of the design team remotely so that all team members can collaborate actively and effectively.
4. Create Transparent Communication
To create a transparent communication flow, you can hold daily or weekly meetings. In these activities, the designer can exchange ideas and share the progress of the work they are doing.
This activity is very useful for smooth work because it can detect problems and find solutions together through brainstorming and discussion sessions.
This is a complete explanation of design operations that can certainly be applied to the design team in your company so that the design process will be more focused and efficient.
However, if your company needs the professional help of a design team, VISUWISU is here to help. We offer comprehensive services, from planning to the production process that will be tailored to your business needs.
Contact us and consult your design needs now!