Two talented designers on the same project sounds like a win. It isn’t always.
Designers are passionate about their work. Put two of them on the same brief and you’re introducing creative friction that, managed well, produces better work. Managed poorly, it grinds the project to a halt. The difference is usually the manager.
Designate a decision maker before conflict starts
The easiest intervention is the one you make before there’s anything to resolve.
For any project involving more than one designer, name someone as the tiebreaker upfront. This can be a senior designer not on the project, a respected peer from another discipline, or you. The point is that everyone knows who has the final call when the designers can’t agree. Without it, a design disagreement has nowhere to go except sideways.
Figure out what you’re actually dealing with
When a conflict does escalate, your first job isn’t to solve it. It’s to understand it.
Talk to each designer separately. Let them make the case for their approach, but pay attention to how they talk about the situation and about each other. That’s where you’ll get the real information. Most design conflicts fall into one of two categories, and the interventions are completely different.
Design conflicts are the easier of the two. You have real tools: peer reviews, usability testing, established heuristics, and your own design judgment. When one designer consistently wins not because of stronger work but because of persistence or persuasiveness, that’s a sign you’re looking at something else.
Personality conflicts are what you’re actually dealing with when the disagreement gets personal. Don’t let the design debate become a proxy fight for an interpersonal problem. When the issue is between the people, put the design questions aside and focus on the people.
When it’s about the design
If one designer is consistently producing stronger work, you have a coaching opportunity. Tell the designer who needs development why the other approach is working, but frame it around the design decisions, not the person. “Here’s what’s making this solution stronger” is useful. “They’re better than you” isn’t.
If it’s appropriate, consider restructuring the dynamic: a mentor-mentee arrangement benefits both designers. The junior designer gets to learn from someone stronger. The senior designer develops leadership instincts. Make sure neither person experiences this as punishment; if they do, you’ve already lost.
When it’s about the people
Some designers don’t get along. It happens. If the conflict is personal, you need to do real investigative work.
Talk to people who’ve been in the room. Sit in on a design session if you don’t normally; your presence alone signals that you’re paying attention, and that’s sometimes enough to change the dynamic.
If you need to intervene directly, pull each designer aside and get their version of events. The most common complaint you’ll hear is that one designer is being stubborn about their ideas. When you talk to that designer, they may be completely surprised that their behavior is being read that way. They thought it was healthy creative tension. Help them see how it’s landing.
Give both designers a voice. Make sure neither feels like they’re always losing. A useful principle to establish with your team: no one is always right, and no one is always wrong.
When you need a quick reset mid-project
You won’t always have time for a deep intervention. If the project is live and the tension is high, a few things can help.
A peer review puts the design in front of a broader group. If the work takes heat from outside, the two designers may find themselves defending it together, which resets the dynamic. If it wins over the group, they can both take credit.
A joint working session with you in the room gives you a chance to model how collaborative critique is supposed to work, and gives you another data point on how they interact.
And sometimes the most useful thing is a low-key lunch after a tough milestone. Tell them you know it’s been a hard sprint. Tell them you’ve seen good work come out of the friction. Let the conversation go somewhere other than the project. A little human contact goes a long way.
Conflict on a design team isn’t a sign something is broken. It’s often a sign people care. Your job isn’t to eliminate it; it’s to keep it from becoming destructive. Treat both designers fairly, give them both a voice, and teach them how to listen.
If you’re managing a team and working through some of these challenges, let’s talk: cal.com/mattwallens