In Flux: Developing a Transformative Mindset

A Guide for Digital Designers

Now more than ever, it feels like change is the only constant. As digital designers, we must live in a state of continued curiosity, discovery, and adaptation in order to stay on the edge of what’s new. When the digital landscape changes, we too must change. For us at Selma Digital, we stay at the forefront of technological transformation not only because it’s our duty as consultants, but also because of our belief in having a “transformative mindset.”

For us, embracing a transformative mindset means having a thoughtful openness to the possibilities or potential of what could be. With a transformative mindset, we are able to anticipate new technology, frameworks, and methodologies in order to revise our practice to produce even better work. We also think through the future possibilities and implications of the products and features we design to make sure the solutions will not only be scalable but also have a positive impact.

So, how do we manage to stay on top of an ever-moving target, imagining solutions for a future that does not yet exist? Here are five ways that we maintain our Transformative Mindset in these ever-changing times:

Be collaborative

We truly believe two minds are better than one, and that is why collaboration is so important to our process. Collaboration with people who are not designers is especially important to understand the bigger picture. Interfacing with subject-matter experts, engineers, marketers, researchers, end-customers, and executive management helps ensure all voices are heard and a holistic set of goals are being achieved. Collaboration also leads us to better comprehend all the touchpoints of a product and its potential impact so that we can better create products that are highly aesthetic, functional, and market-ready. We have learned that by embracing teamwork and collaboration, we can learn from other team members and integrate multiple perspectives in our approach to find unexpected solutions.

Don’t stop learning

Our team regularly seeks out new training and educational opportunities that focus on the latest design tools, methodologies, and technology. From courses to conferences to self-imposed, Youtube rabbit holes, we are curious and excited at the ways we can improve our practice to better help our clients and end users. We use our learnings as a catalyst for innovation and exploration, which allows us to continually re-evaluate our internal best practices and provide the best possible consulting services.

Listen to your audience

One of the pillars of successful product design is empathizing with users. And today, new technology and design methods allow us to go even further in our understanding of our end-user. With new tools in synthesis and data collection, we can gather more information and distill poignant takeaways faster than before. By listening to users and putting their needs at the forefront every time, we challenge what we think we know with real data allowing us to be nimble in our pursuit of truth.

Be comfortable with ambiguity

Helping organizations navigate change is part of our responsibility at Selma Digital. Companies come to us seeking something new, but change can be messy or bring unexpected results. However when things aren’t working, the only way forward is to adapt and try something new. In creating and presenting the many options of what be in our designs, we hold many possibilities for our clients to respond to. Some ideas we try, some we test, some we toss. But moving through change, being flexible, responding to sudden shifts in society, the economy, technology, the competitive landscape, or even within the organization, are traits that we cultivate at Selma Digital. Through candid communication and open dialogue, we’re able to test new ideas and move through change with confidence.

Embrace the future

With future-focused design, we anticipate where things are going and design according to that strategy. More importantly, we try to set up our designs to be adaptive or flexible for what could be in the future. This type of proactive mechanism is baked into our processes. We also lean into the strategic vision of our stakeholders to achieve broader strategic goals within our designs. This helps our output contribute to more long-term objectives rather than only focusing on immediate solutions.

Having a transformational mindset is how we at Selma Digital stay nimble and lean. In other fields, change might be slower or less omnipresent. As designers, keeping our minds open to unexpected possibilities is the best way we’ve found to provide our clients, and their customers, with a holistic and informed approach to solutions. We can’t only design for where we are now. We have to anticipate where we will go, together.