Why this matters

Turning thoughtful design work into stories people rally behind

When you first get into UX, it’s easy to assume the screens will “speak for themselves.” After all, the flows are logical, the colors pass contrast, and you even sprinkled in user quotes. Yet the moment you share your work with a wider circle—product managers, engineers, the ever-curious VP of Sales—you discover a hard truth: great design survives only when people understand why it exists and how it serves their goals.

Tom Greever, in Articulating Design Decisions, argues that the best designers are really the best communicators. They can describe a layout over the phone, tie every pixel to a problem, and leave stakeholders feeling heard—even when they say no to that eleventh-hour color change. Below, we unpack Greever’s core ideas and pair them with examples you can start using this week.

Begin with the message, not the mock-up

Before you open Figma in a review, ask yourself a simple question: “What am I trying to communicate?” That answer should live in plain language—no jargon, no internal shorthand. A strong message covers three points:

1. The problem we’re solving – “68 % of users abandon checkout on the shipping step.”
2. The impact on the person using the product – “Fewer form fields means less frustration.”
3. Why this approach beats the alternatives – “A one-page checkout tested 20 seconds faster than the modal version.”

Write those sentences down. If you can’t, the idea probably needs tightening before it hits a meeting invite.

Keep a running diary of decisions

As you work, pause and literally jot down the choices you make and the problem each one addresses. It might feel tedious, but it pays off in three ways:

• Clarity for yourself – Writing forces you to articulate motivation.
• Portfolio gold – Decision logs turn into detailed case-study narratives.
• Fast recall – Six months later, when the team asks why a component looks odd, you have the receipt.

Try a quick “Design Diary” in Notion: date, problem, decision, expected impact. Two minutes a day keeps confusion away.

Structure your presentation like a story, not a tour

When it’s time for a design review meeting, try this five-point outline:

1. State (or restate) the project goal. Do this right away so everyone’s mental compass points north.
2. Recap previous discussions. A 30-second memory jog prevents re-litigating old decisions.