On May 6, 2008, at 3:53 PM, Brett Ingram wrote:
Something about that doesn't seem to be quite in the best interest
of the user. Where does that leave us as designers? The business is
our client, not the end user.
This has been debated before...40 yrs ago :-) Legendary designer
Charles Eames did a simple yet brilliant sketch that illustrated the
zone of an optimal solution, addressing the ideal fusion of competing/
cooperating concerns, as a diagram with a “sweet spot” of intersections:
http://www.ghostinthepixel.com/?p=103
And more recently, Henry Petroski from Why There is No Perfect Design
(which is a great read, imho):
“Designing anything involves satisfying constraints, making choices,
containing costs, and accepting compromises.”
It's not about either "the user" or "the business"... the best skilled
designers figure how to *balance* competing concerns (with the
technology, human factors, etc.). Yeah It's difficult, but that's the
deal you signed up for as a designer. Sorry :-) (I go more into this
in my paper "Fog of Design" if anyone's interested, about lessons
learned on the complexity of practice)
And when thwarted by those competing forces (hopefully a rare moment),
you just gotta learn to let go and move on, knowing that you gave it
your best effort at achieving "the good design"...
Uday Gajendar
Sr. Interaction Designer
Voice Technology Group
Cisco | San Jose
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+1 408 902 2137
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