🧠 Stakeholders don't read your mind

Hey designer!

Early in my career (and even further), I thought my designs could speak for themselves.

After all, the user flows were clear.
The prototypes looked polished.
The work should have been obvious, right?

I quickly learned:
In busy teams and real-world projects, good design isn’t enough.
You also need good design documentation.

🧠 Why Documentation Matters

Here’s what I realised after a few messy handoffs and feedback loops:

✅ Documentation preserves the why behind design decisions.
✅ It helps stakeholders (and future you!) understand the context.
✅ It speeds up developer handoff and reduces back-and-forth questions.
✅ It creates a clear record for future iterations.

Design work is a part of an ongoing conversation with users, product teams, and business needs.

Good documentation is what keeps that conversation clear.

📝 What I Include in My Design Documentation

After refining my process across multiple projects, I always make sure to document:

• Problem statement: What user problem are we solving?

• Research summary: What insights informed the design?

• Design decisions: What were the key choices and why?

• Component usage: What design system elements are used?

• Open questions or risks: Anything still under consideration?

• Next steps: Clear handoff instructions or review requests.

Design Documentation Template

Because I got tired of building docs from scratch every time, I created a Design Documentation Template inside Notion.

It’s designed to help you:
✔ Document your work faster
✔ Organise insights and decisions clearly
✔ Create smoother handoffs with developers, PMs, and researchers

Whether you’re working solo or collaborating with a team, this template will save you hours—and make your designs easier to trust, review, and build.

Want the template?
👉 Grab it here!

Or just hit reply if you have questions about how I document different types of projects—I’m happy to share behind-the-scenes!

That’s all for this week! Stay tuned for more insights - learn how to transform and evolve your design workflow.

Talk soon,

Lisa

P.S. Have a specific challenge in your design workflow? Hit reply—I’d love to hear about it!

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