Overcoming Design Challenges
A few weeks ago, I came across my first big design challenge. My team and I were working on a non-profit redesign and tried our best to meet our client’s wishes. It was our very first time working directly with a client, and we wanted her to love the website, but we ran into one very big problem — the color palette was VERY difficult to work with.
This problem really got me thinking and through that I realized that the problem wasn’t the color palette, the problem was actually me as a designer. Ideally, we would like to work in a world where the color palettes are all beautiful and easy to work with, but that‘s not what makes a good designer. What makes a good designer is being able to effectively work with a poor color scheme and still create something great for the client out of that.
One of my favorite people to follow on Instagram is Kelly Wearstler, a celebrity interior designer based out of Los Angeles. Besides the fact that she is beautifully awesome and has exceptionally great taste, she is pretty much able to transform an entire home, hotel, etc, into a beautiful sanctuary, using some of the most absurd color palettes that I would’ve never thought of. And because of that, she has been ablet to create this sort of reputation for herself as being a designer who tastefully thinks out of the box.
Thinking of that, I realized that was the solution to my problem. Not presenting a new color palette to my client, but being able to work with the color palette I had. That was what would make me a great designer.
We tend to like sticking to our comfort zones. We like to see blues and pinks and colors that are easy to work with. We don’t like to see too much contrast between colors, but I have learned that how I choose to deal with these challenges is what determines whether I am a good or great designer.
The way I solved this problem was to take a lot of time experimenting with different color palettes and exploring a solution. Instead of keeping the colors so dark, I opted for a pastelle version of the original color choices (navy blue and bright orange). I also added in one additional color to balance it out and make the transition between the two less overbearing (I chose a popsicle yellow as a transition color).
Overall, I am happy with the outcome of the project. Not because it’s the most noteworthy piece that I have completed, but I overcame a very difficult personal challenge — not allowing myself to take the easy way out and confront my client about her poor color scheme choice, but rather, figuring out how to work with what I had and make it user friendly and aesthetically pleasing. I feel like I’m finally now becoming a real UX designer! :)
