"What it sounds like you're trying to say is that somehow designers are more enlightened about good design than usability practitioners. I think this is a fallacious argument (and, to some, probably insulting)."
Jared, If a designer isn't more enlightened about good design than a usability practitioner, than I would have to say they probably shouldn't be designers. I'm not sure why this has to sound like it would be insulting to usability practitioners. Designing is a different process than evaluation. Clearly, both designers and usability practitioners have to understand the principles of what makes a site, or software or product usable, but this doesn't mean that the person who is the usability specialist would be an equally good designer. I will also say (clearly opening myself to heated disagreement) that designing something is much more difficult than evaluating and incrementally improving something already established. It requires a holistic appreciation of many factors. And it takes talent -- which is not simply the sum of all the skills and experiences the designer has picked up over the years -- it is more than that. *Good* designers are, in fact, more enlightened about good design than *good* usability practitioners and it is that indefinable something that separates art from science that makes it so. Joseph Selbie Founder, CEO Tristream Web Application Design http://www.tristream.com ________________________________________________________________ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
