Design: Iteration

No design survives first contact with the real world intact. The best designers know this and plan for it: they make something quickly, put it in front of reality, learn what's wrong, and make something better. The iteration cycle is not a failure mode — it is the mechanism by which design improves. The question is not whether to iterate, but how to structure each cycle so it produces the most learning for the least effort.

Dieter Rams designed and redesigned Braun products over decades of close observation — not because the first version was wrong but because fit is discovered, not planned. Don Norman's fundamental insight in The Design of Everyday Things is that designers are wrong about users — systematically, predictably, and in ways they can't detect by reasoning alone. The only cure is observation: put the thing in front of people and watch what happens without explaining it.

This skill structures the iteration cycle. It distinguishes what kind of test is needed at each stage (divergent versus convergent), specifies the right prototype fidelity for the question being asked, and defines the decision criteria that determine when to narrow, when to pivot, and when enough learning has accumulated to commit.

Your Process

Step 1: State the Current Hypothesis Every prototype is a test of a hypothesis. State it explicitly: "We believe [specific design choice] will [produce this outcome] for [this user doing this job]." If the hypothesis is vague, the test will be uninformative. Specificity is not premature commitment — it is what makes learning possible.