"What is it?"
"Can we move it?"
"What if we made it a different color?"
"Oh, let's just get rid of it."
If you're in marketing or design or usability, you've been there. You create something, put thought into it, do piles of research, refine and sharpen, and finally present your idea to the Powers That Be. And after two minutes they're making you question all of it.
It's frustrating. It's not that they hate it. They just want...changes.
If you're wondering what the "Problematic Shard" is, it's one of those things. It's a piece of a company logo that is a pain in everyone's ass. It's a concept that nobody seems to get. It's a name that nobody likes but you. It's hard to work with, it's misunderstood, it doesn't look right...and on and on.
There's a real shard, of course. Fought for long and hard. And there are metaphorical shards...like the name I was asked to defend only last week. It wasn't even my project, but I was asked to help with a name and I came up with something good - unique and fitting. Not everyone saw it that way though.
I've been there. I'll be there again. Sometimes I think I ask for it. And as in the case of the shard, I fight for it.
Why do we do it? Why do we invite this criticism, this tearing-apart of what we do, when there's usually a safe road, an accepted answer?
Because the problematic shard makes exciting things happen. It gets people talking, and thinking, and considering things from different angles. The shard pushes boundaries, drives it into the red line, overclocks the brain and gets juices flowing.
In other words, the shard is where it's at.
Because here's the thing. However wonderful the idea, however perfect it seems, usually it still needs work. Usually it needs that extra something that can only come from someone else. That extra nudge or the right words that make the "perfect" idea...even better.
Because it makes me think too. Challenging a concept makes me consider it from another's eyes. Often, if the mind is open, that means listening...and changing. Improving. And if nothing else, it gives us a chance to defend an idea that really is that good.
That name that had issues? After a little discussion, it stuck. That problematic shard in the logo? Still there, and still debated every year or so. But in the end, it always stays. Because it works.
This is why I took the shard for a name. When it works, it's worth it. Worth all of it.
Photo by Amanda Jane