How many design variations should I explore?

Illustration by Voyager Drawings

More time you invest in something, the higher chance of returning a more satisfying output. This tends to hold true also in design, where the line between right and wrong answer is blurry compared to a mathematical equation.

In order to design and deliver an effective solution, you must clearly articulate the key problems first. Once you do that, how wide and deep should you explore your designs?

There are benefits to exploring across following spectrums.

1. Minimum viable design : Focus on the most practical & lowest cost
2. Maximum viable design : Where all ideas are possible
3. The Starting Point Design : Leveraging constraints towards vision

Let’s jump into each type.

Minimum viable design : Focus on the most practical & lowest cost

Bringing an idea to life from this angle helps you in the following ways.

• You will form a sense of the most critical problem you have to solve for with the design.
• You will be forced to strip away the flairs and reflect on the core value of your solution. As you reflect on your design, this can provide a more candid look at how well it is solving for that top priority problem.
• As with any team work, you will need to convince your partners that your idea is worth all that work to put in. A practical and cost-effective design will be persuasive to your partners.

While answering all the key questions, this type of exploration will result in a design that is feasible to act on right away and give you a foundation to expand further upon.

Maximum viable design : Where all ideas are possible

Now, let’s assume all ideas are possible as long as it accrues towards solving the top priority problems. What kind of design can you come up with? Explore this end of the spectrum for the following reasons.

• You will form a sense of how far design can be / should be pushed for maximum impact to the core value.
• You will set a bar for the quality and fidelity to aim for in the design.
• You may come up with ideas that will become an inspiration or a vision for the product down the road.

This type of exploration will help you realize whether the extra work for further design will be worth it. There will be times where you will realize that doing the minimum viable design is sufficient. Other times, you will discover untapped potential and what to push for long-term.

The Starting Point Design : Leveraging constraints towards vision

Designs from the two ends of the spectrum will set you up with a baseline sense of where to start your design and a north star to drive the design towards.

As the third type of exploration, work on a design that juggles the constraints and vision to pull in the best from both ends. Think about how the ideas should be staged and constraints that can be leveraged into opportunity levers, so that the design starts off with a good traction and continues to evolve to maximize value to the end user.

Present the output from the Starting Point Design to your manager, peers, and partners. Then paint the picture of how you see it building on the value to reach the full potential through the Maximum Viable Design. If there is pushback or new constraints introduced around the Starting Point, go back to Minimum Viable Design to revisit the set of values that you can’t compromise and must push for.

Building out a design to its full potential will require a constant dialogue rather than a statement. So explore enough, so that you look beyond the short-term solutions and are able to guide the dialogue towards the north star.

If you take into account other factors in determining how many design variations to explore, I would love to learn about ‘em!