Design Philosophy: Design That STICKs
What to expect when you work with Truly XD
A design philosophy is the stance you design from: the beliefs and principles that decide why something ends up looking the way it does. It has very little to do with visual style. It’s about questions like: What are we designing for? For whom? And what gives way when two goals pull in opposite directions? I think a design philosophy should be stated out loud. It tells peers, collaborators and clients what they’re signing up for before the first meeting.
Maturity-Minded Experience Design already describes the Truly XD design philosophy fairly well, but it only tells half the story. Maturity-Minded Experience Design means: I design what your team can carry today, and build the skills it will need tomorrow along the way (More on Maturity-Minded Experience Design). What Truly XD aims for in its design outcomes goes further than that. It’s hard to put into words. It’s easier to show with the Truly XD logo.
What does the Truly XD logo have to do with the design philosophy?
Figure A shows the original shape that came before the Truly XD logo. In Figure B, the blue areas mark the part of the diagram I call Maturity-Minded Experience Design. The blue area in Figure C stands for Design That STICKs.
The Truly XD logo started out as three circles. Each circle represents a perspective or an aspect of the design process.
- Stakeholders: the organisation’s view, meaning the needs and pain points of the client and of the people who work with the product internally.
- Users: the people the product or service was made for.
- TXD Design: a design stance I hadn’t fully defined at first, one that connects the other two perspectives so that something sustainable can grow from them.
In my view, design only works, and lasts, when all three circles are involved. Figure B shows where Maturity-Minded Experience Design happens. Figure C shows Design That STICKs: the priorities that make sure the result still holds once the project is over.
What does Design That STICKs mean?
At the heart of the Truly XD design philosophy is the belief that teams should become more independent. That doesn’t mean everyone should become a designer. It means teams can make better, user-centred decisions on their own. Hang on, a studio that wants its clients to stop needing it? Sounds like a terrible business model. I still think it’s the right one.
The motivation is simple: too often, I’ve watched projects slowly slide backwards because the team lacked these skills, for example because goals or needs (from whichever circle) weren’t known. That’s not just wasted money, it’s wasted time… and AIN’T NOBODY GOT TIME FOR THAT!
Design That STICKs is an acronym for the design outcomes I aim for: Sustainable, Team-ready, Inclusive, Credible and Kind.
- Sustainable: The impact lasts beyond launch and meets the sustainability goals that matter to your team, such as more economical content upkeep or fewer errors.
- Team-ready: The design fits your team’s resources, tools and workflows, and isn’t built for a team that doesn’t exist.
- Inclusive: Accessibility is a project goal from day one, not an expensive retrofit. Your team knows how to keep it intact through future updates.
- Credible: The design reflects the organisation’s values and principles and speaks with an authentic voice in imagery, copy and user journey. Every design decision can be traced back to a principle or a research finding.
- Kind: People are addressed and treated with respect, in the interface as much as in the copy.
What does Design That STICKs do for your team?
Design that is sustainable, team-ready, inclusive, credible and kind can have a lasting effect. Once your team has built new skills through the maturity-minded process, it uses them to maintain and develop the product. That creates a foundation that innovation can grow on.
What you can measure
- Maintenance with little or no outside help: New content, new page types, small features: your team handles it.
- Less drift after launch: The product stays on course with the vision.
- Lower total cost of ownership: Fewer retrofits, less rework, fewer rescue projects.
- Inclusive from the start: Accessibility holds up through future updates, because your team knows how to protect it.
- Room to innovate: A stable foundation leaves time and budget for whatever comes next.
What you can feel
- Skills become routine: What the team has learned becomes everyday practice.
- Confidence grows through use: With every successful iteration, the team grows more sure of itself.
- UX becomes a shared language across the whole organisation, rather than just ‘the design team’s thing’.
- The mission becomes tangible: Users pick up on the in-between tones that can’t really be described, they just are. Vibes, basically.
On the same wavelength?
If you think this design philosophy is exactly what could move your team forward, let’s talk.