The difference between good and great designers

We work with a lot of design teams building sports apps, and there’s one mistake I see again and again. It looks small, but it quietly ruins great ideas.

Many designers, when a product owner asks them to design a feature, just design that feature — and stop there. That’s the mistake.

A great designer should always think about what happens before and after the feature.

Let’s take an example. You’re designing a football app and adding a prediction game before a match. Most designers stop there. A great designer asks:

• What happens five or ten days before the match? Could we send an email or push to let fans know the prediction game is coming?
• What happens during the game? If a fan’s prediction is wrong, can they change it at halftime?
• What about the off-season? Could we run quizzes or “prediction training” to keep users engaged?

Great design means thinking beyond the task. It’s about how the experience lives before, during, and after the interaction. That’s where great UX actually starts.