Universal Principles of UX

41

Define the problem statement.

Every time we work on self-initiated projects in our studio—projects that are for ourselves and not for a client—we create our own brief, set our own deadlines, and determine the problem statement ourselves. That’s because design is not art and needs to solve a real human need. As the American minimalist artist Donald Judd famously said, “Design has to work, art does not.” And we cannot make the design work without defining the problem first.

Whenever we’re facing an open brief, it helps to add some artificial constraints and self-enforce a few rules. Constraints enable us to narrow potential solutions and allow for ideas that wouldn’t be possible without them. An endless scope of possibilities can be quite paralyzing ...