create028

Personally I will always start any design within photoshop, or actually really back to basic's with pencil and pad to start off with. It is this raw creativity and freedom that distinguishes a designer from a developer.

A simple way to describe how I see it is this analogy, would you rather get dressed in a box, or would you rather get dressed then try and fit in the box. You will end up in the box at some point either way.

A point to reiterate is that a great leader will always surround themselves with brilliant team members. Bad leaders like to surround themselves with 'bad' workers to make themselves feel better about their own inadequacies. If you can try to hire skilled individuals, and encourage your team members to become the best possible in their field, then you are not only guiding, motivating and creating future leaders for further scalability but you are enabling your team with a strong powerhouse of knowledge where everyone is valued for their expertise making your life a lot easier as the manager in the meantime.

With a wedding this 'epic', any smart divorce lawyers should start introducing themselves now.

I completely agree with your first point, 'You've buried the lede' and this is a mistake I see on a daily basis. Great design should never say "look at me" it should always say "look at this".

The first steps to achieving this and therefore avoiding the mistakes you mention are to cohesively join your UX and UI teams or designers into one fluid process. One will never work well, without the other. What are you saying and how are you saying it is the basis for ensuring your core company message is translated effectively over any medium.

If in doubt always ask yourself, 'would my mum get it', she might not be the target audience but your design should be that simple to understand and decipher. No-one wants to have to go to an about us page, or scroll endlessly down a page to 'get it', otherwise why do we bother having headlines on newspaper articles? Simplicity is difficult, but this is the challenge all great designers should embrace.