seomoz.org — As a professional web designer I've noticed a consistent trend in the majority of the projects I've worked on: The more time that is spent dissecting, analyzing, and critiquing a design by the wrong kinds of people the worse that design gets. The same trend applies to the number of people involved in the design process.
Jul 21, 2006 View in Crawl 4
rlewis1Jul 21, 2006
Apparently the site this was posted on had a fair number of critiquers spending a considerable amount of time on it.
slantyyzJul 21, 2006
Does that mean you hate the people who visit your sites too? Chances are they don't know much about design either.
vagariJul 21, 2006
I have a Dilbert comic from a few years ago in my cubicle that is similar to this. The pointy haired boss comes up with a "TOTALLY BRILLIANT" idea for the company logo and harasses the design department about it. :)
axeswingerJul 21, 2006
Okay, I get what the author is trying to say and agree. But, I take issue with some very basic points with his premise. While his graphs make a compelling argument it just does not happen that way. If you look at the graphs the ultimate design is produced by a single designer, no way. While the graphs don't show the frequency of great designs per single designers my experience is it's a very low number and not practical or likely. Kind of like waiting for lighting to strike a specific designer it happens but not often.Again, I get the authors rant and agree, mostly. It lacks credibility IMHO because it tries to present itself as objective and it's not. From my experience the best designs come from a collaborative group with a small number of members: the user, the business and the designer that have the authority to implement the fruits of their labor.
n00tzJul 21, 2006
Business needs like bouncing logos, bandwidth intensive videos, and other distracting eye-candy? Those are the only suggestions I've received from my critics (the CEO, CFO, and their ass-kissing upper level management).Nah. I agree with the author completely. Even my business savvy CFO is lost in the possibilities (read: atrocities) of web design.When I went (yes, past tense... they didn't like me telling them in more words "that is impractical, unprofessional, and appalling".. so now correspondence is via email only) to meetings they weren't concerned about the sales/practicality aspect of the website, but more-so the look and feel. They were also BENT on theming the site in Black with Orange, ECHKK! Needless to say, I refuse to claim their website on my portfolio as far as appearance goes, just certain functional aspects of the site.
pocketwookieJul 21, 2006
What a bunch of babies. I know I'm gonna get hammered for this, but grow up folks. It's not fine art you're working on here. God, this article with the badly designed graphs (2 widows?) sounds like I did coming out of college. I thought David Carson was a visionary and everything should look like RayGun. Well, 10+ years later I'm able to understand that there's a difference between good design and smart design. It's easy to make something look great that brings home awards (I know, because I have). But if it's not relevant to the client or their audience, it's masturbation.You know how you get great, award winning designs that still hit the client's objectives? Build a relationship with them. Spend time. Communicate with them. Educate them. Once they see that your motives are to elevate their brand above the rest of the crap, rather than just using them to finance your new powerbook, they'll give you more creative freedom. They'll trust your judgment. They'll respect your professionalism.Sometimes a design or website doesn't need to be fantastic. Sometimes it just needs to be a little better than the rest of the junk. It is what it is. And once you can get beyond having your feelings hurt everytime someone has a criticism for your work, meet me at the grown-ups table.If you think that crafting a design by yourself, without consulting some of these half-wits, is the type of position you're looking for, you will be in a lonely, lonely place.
batfanJul 21, 2006
I agree wholeheartedly. Especially if your clients consist of the saleman andthe customer. Everything gets lost in the translation with the salesman overyour shoulder telling you that "I used to graphics before!"Like my professor said "They're always people that want to piss in the cornerand tell everyone that, I did that!" Or the customer wants something a certainway all because his damn wife wanted it.In the end, as the designer with so many revisions from many different viewsyou could just eventually be polishing a tird!
xsecretsJul 21, 2006
"Group intelligence is multiplicative when idiots are involved - combining a half-wit with another half-wit does not result in a full-witted person, it results in a quarter-witted person (1/2 x 1/2 = 1/4)."This has got to be one of the best statements I've heard in recent years. I'll have to remember this one.
d3koyJul 22, 2006
When in doubt, do what I do: Don't think! Screw it up the first time and you will get help the second time around, and have to do no work at all. Unless your an engineer or people's lives are in danger this plan ALWAYS works.
mjjackJul 25, 2006
Awesome post, CasadeMike! I wish I could triple-digg that :) I totally agree (and with pocketwookie below)I'd also say that the one group a designer really needs to consult is actual users.
klinsekJul 30, 2006
Excellent write up. So much of that has rang true for me throughout my career in the web development industry. The graphs are funny as hell.
Closed AccountApr 1, 2007
<a class="user" href="http://www.design-sites.net/creation-sites/creation-sites/">http://www.design-sites.net/creation-sites/creation-sites/</a>New technologi for creation sites.
pixelyzedSep 28, 2007
No, they hired a graphic *designer*. In the end, art has little to do with graphic design. Design is about problem solving, clear communication and achieving specific, measurable goals.
theadvinciMay 27, 2008
This was excellent...