Embracing constraints
Earlier today, @Abby_the_IA delivered her definition of UX as a one-two punch:
- Day to day job of UX: mold experience our client is delivering to be as usable and useful as possible within current climate and constraints
- Long-term job of UX is to help mold client mindset to bring the needs of the user into as much focus as best practices & business needs.
For a long time, I’ve been snoozing in the sunlight of the first idea she touches on: constraints.
It’s like Georges Perec’s A Void, a 300 page lipogrammatic novel, where he doesn’t —not once —use the letter “e”. Truthfully, I’ve never read the book (it’s on my endless to-read list, like the entirety of Donald Barthleme’s syllubus), but I love the idea of building something almost squarely on the concept of omission.
Constraint is a great tamer. You’re forced to be resourceful and smart with your creativity, and to be fearless with purging bloat and fancy.
In our UX work (and in life in general, I guess) we should never bemoan the boa constrictor-ish lot we’re sometimes handed. Sucky as it can be, you occasionally need to be nearly choked out in order to fully live.
