Which is a better trait for an interaction designer — perfectionism or the willingness to compromise?

I think that it's not a question of should you be a perfectionist but WHEN should you focus on making the details crisp and perfect. If you are exploring ideas or different options early on in the design process, then perfectionism is a bad thing. You'll focus on the details of the design instead of the design PROBLEM. Explore and ideate first – sketch and don't be worry if you are sloppy about it. When you are at the UI level, THEN focus on the detail – but do that after you have solved the problem and landed on the "right" design.

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