Why is the Design Handoff broken today ?

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Design handoff is a process of handing over the finished design work from designers to developers for execution from design to code. Design handoff does not only mean to transfer the design but to transfer the intent, the meaning and the context of the design elements for the developers to understand it better and clear for further implementation

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Design handoff has always been a crucial part in the product development lifecycle. Yet, this phase is fraught with challenges, miscommunication and inefficiencies, which results in an extremely delayed, essentially broken design handoff process that is prevalent traditionally.

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In this, let dive into the reasons behind the broken handoff and potential ways to fix it

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Common Reasons behind the broken Design Handoff 

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1. Communication Gap: Designers may look at the visual and interactive elements but on the other side, developers focus more on the functionality and feasibility which mostly gets ignored by designers due to different terminologies, priorities and lack of communication.

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2. Time Constraints and Pressure: Tight deadlines often force teams to rush through the handoff process, resulting in incomplete design or lack of documentation. This can lead to developers missing important details

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3. Lack of Documentation: Most common mistake is not providing enough documentation and context of the design. It's a common mistake to only make the screens in Figma without explaining the intent behind it.

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4. Lack of training: Designers usually work on Figma or Sketch while developers work on IDEs and development related tools. Every developer should know how Figma works, the basics of it as well as designers should the thinking of a developer that how he/she gonna build it

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5. Lack of testing: Testing is the most vulnerable and ignored tasks, due to poor testing of designs many hidden errors and problems get ignored, which makes the design handoff very less effective resulting in poor development.

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6. Not designing the states: Designers need to understand that designing the screens is not enough, there are many things to take care of and one of them is various states of an element if needed. Many design elements may vary with design when there is an error or its loading in the product

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How to fix it ?

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1. Proper Architecture:

• Setting up a design system is a crucial part of architecture, it covers all the UI components, design patterns and design principles. This ensures that all the elements are consistent across the project which helps developers to easily translate the design into code

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• A well-structured design system with clear documentation is the best way to communicate the details and thoughts and have a common base of understanding for the designer and developer. Designers should maintain documentation where they include all the details related to architecture, design elements, style guide etc which will work as a guide for the developer to get things further

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• Organized and Structured layers hierarchy is important to maintain architecture of the design. All the layers and design elements should be descriptively named, under proper groups in an organized manner so the developer can understand the meaning of the design

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2. Prototyping:

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• Prototyping allows both designers and developers to visualize how the final product and user journey will look and function and can help developers to understand the product better

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• Prototypes should be tested as well by mimicking the user flow to ensure that the design meets the end user needs. Any changes from the testing feedback should be implemented in the final design before handing off to devs

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3. Responsiveness:

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• Breakpoints are essential in building a responsive design where the layout must be adjusted according to the screens sizes. Designers should define breakpoints clearly indicating how elements can resize. 

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• Using Breakpoints and Auto Layout features for responsiveness helps the designer to convey the responsive information of the design and layout. These must be added in the Design Handoff to avoid inconsistencies across different devices.

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4. Accessibility Info:

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• Accessibility should be a priority from the start of the design process. Accessibility information must be added such as color contrast ratios, images alternative text, font size and more in the handoff. 

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• This ensures that the final product is accessible and usable by all users, including with disabilities

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5. Visual and Interactive Elements:

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• Design Handoff must include details about visual and interactive elements such as color palette, typography, type of the images and icons according to the developer needs (png, jpeg, svg, etc) and more

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• A well made Design system also plays an important role to provide necessary information related to visual elements for the handoff

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6. Error and Loading States:

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• Design should include all possible states for the User Interface such as error state, successful state, and loading state wherever needed. These states are often overlooked during the design process.

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• All the states should be visually represented and functionally behave. This includes specifying clear error or loading messages and fallback content. This information is valuable from the developer perspective while developing the final product

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7. Clear Communication:

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• Clear communication starts with defining the expectation from both designer and development teams. This means setting up clear guidelines on which team deliver during the handoff process.

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• Establish feedback loops where developers can share their inputs and queries related to the design and designer can make the explain and make the necessary adjustments

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• Every design detail and developer needs to be communicated well because it is the root of a good design handoff. Developer can be able to explain their needs and designers should understand and build it accordingly

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Why Design handoff important ?

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1. Accurate Development Based on Design Intent: The primary purpose of design handoff is ensure that developers can accurately translate the design into a functional product. When designers provide clear and detailed handoff, it minimizes the chances of misinterpretation or errors during the development phase.

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2. Accurate Project Estimation: A detailed design handoff helps to understand the scope and complexity of the product, developers can more accurately estimate the time and resources required to complete the project which leads to realistic timelines and better resource allocation

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3. Ensuring Product Consistency with the Design: The ultimate goal of the design handoff is to ensure that the final product is consistent with the original design. By providing developers with all the necessary assets, guidelines and annotations, designers can help ensure that the product behaves as expected and meet’s the design functional and aesthetic needs

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Conclusion

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The design handoff process is a critical yet often overlooked aspect of product development. While it is broken in many organizations, it doesn't have to be. By fostering better communication, using right tools, iterative workflows and investing training teams can significantly improve the handoff process. This will lead to more consistent, high quality products that meet both the design and user expectations.

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Author

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Rohan Singhvi

CEO of Dualite

LinkedIN

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