Embracing the Iterative Design Process

I've officially replaced Scott as the newest member of the Aten team. For more than a month now, I've been soaking in everything, and I wanted to take a minute to reflect on my experience. So far, I've been very involved in Aten's design process. It seems fairly similar to how I've done things in the past, with one clear exception: the attitude surrounding design revisions. Throughout my career as a web designer, I've always seen (and been a part of) negativity around the revision stage of the design process. In some ways, I think we all feel like our awesome designs might be ruined by the input of others. Aten calls the revision stage of the process the "Iterative Design Process." To me, this has meant that no design is going to be perfect from the get-go, and as a team, we'll help each other make good ideas great through iterations of the design. The same idea applies once we present a design to a client... we make it clear that what we've created may just be the starting point, and we extend an invitation for clients to provide feedback that will help make what we've created even better. Maybe it's as simple as calling it an iteration versus a revision, but from what I can see, it's enough to keep it a positive – and effective – experience. For me, I'm happily getting used to the Iterative Design Process.