In the early stages of their design career, the author realized the importance of prioritizing design decisions. They now employ a heuristic—"Default it, or design it"—which has greatly improved their efficiency and focus. By limiting time spent on minor details, designers can concentrate on more significant strategic decisions. The author highlights how relying on established design systems can accelerate the design process, allowing them to allocate energy where it matters most. This intentional choice between defaulting or designing leads to enhanced productivity and less frustration in project environments, particularly startups.
I wasted too much time early in my design career sweating the wrong details. Now I ask one question before every UI decision: "Default it, or design it?" This simple heuristic has saved me countless hours and arguments, especially in startup environments where resources are limited and speed matters.
Problems arise when designers spend too much time on lower-value minutia at the expense of big, strategic decisions: projects stall, deadlines slip, and teams get frustrated.
When you default it, you're leaning on existing solutions: design systems, platform conventions, or vendor tools. You're not ignoring the problem, you're delegating the decision to something that's already solved it well enough.
The power comes from choosing intentionally. The "Default It" approach is most valuable when you're getting hung up on a micro-level detail while working on a macro-level project.
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