Design Project Deadlines: Necessity vs. Reality

Deadlines

Design project deadlines are not the enemy of good work — they are the condition that makes good work possible. We’ve delivered over 128 projects across two decades, and the deadline has never once been optional. What changes is how seriously you treat it as a design constraint rather than an administrative inconvenience.

January 16, 20241 Minutes

We desperately need them, but sometimes we must break them. 

Our minds are set to achieve goals. One at a time. They have trained us to do so since kindergarten. We all know that the closer the deadline, the more productive we become. It looks like somewhere we picked this up as well.

The reason we need them is because this is the only way the project will be finished. If there is no deadline, we either will not start, our brains will not align, or we will strive for perfection, which will never happen.

Since we work with clients and not for them, the deadline obligation is on both sides. The motivation and the effort to make it happen are mutual, but in the same manner, we can realize it can’t be done; we need more time and resources. And that is okay. It will improve the result when finished.



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