Pair Design: Better Together

Pair design is the counterintuitive practice of getting more and better UX design done by putting two designers together as thought partners to solve design problems. It’s counterintuitive because you might expect that you could split them up to work in parallel to get double the design done, but for many situations, you’d be wrong. This document will help explain what pair design is, how it works, and tour through the practicalities of implementing it in your practice.

  1. ​It involves two brains​
  2. ​A distinct and complementary stance​
  3. ​Gens and synths​
  4. ​We come as a team​
  5. ​Starting off with pair design​
  1. It involves two brains

    It involves two brains on a project at the same time. This doesn’t mean part time, checking in with each other on work that’s been accomplished separately.

    Pair design really means being in the same room, working on the same problem, with both brains focused on the problem simultaneously for the duration of the project.

  2. A distinct and complementary stance

    Each person in the pair takes a distinct and complementary stance toward the design problem as they work together. One generates solutions. That is, one individual materializes solutions to the problem at hand for discussion and iteration. The other synthesizes the proposed solutions.

    Anderson and Noessel refer to these roles as gens and synths, respectively, which sounds more than a little cyberpunk.

  3. Gens and synths

    Gens are generally comfortable drawing and drawing in front of their partner. Additionally, the generator needs to have “fearless generativity,” to be able to come up with a dozen pretty good solutions to a problem even with incomplete information.

    Designers in the synthesizer role need to be skilled at describing designs and explaining rationale in writing. The role requires the designer to be detail oriented and have a strong memory, to keep the big picture of the system, stakeholders, and users in mind as a reference for designs on the table.

  4. Starting off with pair design

    It’s better to start small. Find the “genniest” designer you can and pair her with the “synthiest,” have them work through a few projects as a pair to see how it goes, evolve a process that works for your organization, smooth out the wrinkles, and become resident experts. Then, split them up, assign them with new pairs, and begin to spread.

  5. What are the benefits of pair design?

    It Makes for Better Design

    • Pairing forces constant iteration: idea testing and course-correction.
    • It brings to bear two brains and two stances.

    It Makes for Better Designers and Better Design Organizations

    • They are happier.
    • Pair design makes it easier to focus on core aptitudes.
    • They cross-pollinate: a mechanism for a learning organization.

    Pair Design Makes for a More Effective Process

    • Pairing avoids the problem of dueling whiteboards.
    • It encourages designers to materialize ideas early.
    • It encourages designers to vocalize their rationale.
    • It encourages constant course-correction.