This post was inspired by the PC game I’m building – Better Boyfriend – which is ready for beta release. Super exciting, but also scary and, in a way, disappointing. I’ve built something that works, but it’s far from perfect, and if I show it to other people, it’s possible they may ridicule me.
This is why a beta release is that mean friend who means best: it’s probably going to hurt your feelings, but it’s necessary and will make your life so much better.
Everything I’m writing relates to your digital marketing too – your website, your blog post, your EDM, every piece of design work you do. It’s really hard to show it to other people before it fits your definition of perfect, but then is your definition of perfect really right?
Traditionally designers (which I’m using to summarise all people who create things) would go into a dark room and emerge a month later with their perfect creation based on whatever brief they were given, and very often their stakeholders would be disappointed and unimpressed. Why? Because giving a brief involves two layers of subjectivity: the person giving the brief subconsciously layers their life experience, world view, knowledge and emotions over their communication, and once the brief is transmitted to the person receiving it, it must then be interpreted – again, the receiver will subconsciously add their own subjective layer when interpreting and understanding the brief. The result? It is completely normal for two people to read and understand the same brief, but interpret it differently – this is particularly true in the creative space. If you asked 3 different people to draw you a picture of a “quaint” house, how much variation do you think you’d get because different people interpret the word “quaint” differently?
Back to our beta release: you have created something you think is good and fit for purpose, and it is crucial you then show it to other people because they will have a different interpretation of what’s good than you do, and you want to make sure that what you’ve made appeals to more people than just you. It’s essential you do this as early as sensible because you don’t want to waste a whole heap of time and effort going down a rabbit hole only to get to the other end and realise that your target market doesn’t share your passion for XYZ, and what you’ve made isn’t going to work.
Instead, trust that your beta testers want to help you (they aren’t out to get you), and though it can be hard to be told your baby is imperfect, receiving that feedback will help you make your creation even better.