Comments on: Design Will Define You (Whether You Embrace It or Not)

By: United Voices

United Voices — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 08:11:34 +0000

Thanks Josh. this is quite helpful.

By: Scott

Scott — Thu, 22 May 2008 03:39:22 +0000

Well said Josh. The Tom Peters quote and the paragraph from you that follows should probably be printed out as a poster, sent to every client with instructions to place it immediately in front of where they sit so that they see it every time they look up.

By: Justin

Justin — Wed, 21 May 2008 12:50:53 +0000

Speaking of evangelizing the idea . . . I would love to see this article expanded into a booklet designed (t-hee) to help organizational leaders gain a clearer understanding of the role of good design and of the type of commitment it takes to achieve it. If you were so inclined to write it, consider this a pre-order of a dozen copies.

By: Geoff A

Geoff A — Wed, 21 May 2008 05:17:19 +0000

Well stated. I think it’s important to evangelize this viewpoint on a daily basis. That’s not always easy. What I’ve found helpful is to celebrate small design successes that are in some way quantifiable. Stakeholders can say a specific design choice doesn’t matter but when you show them how it made an impact, positive or negative, they should start to take notice.

By: Joshua Blankenship

Joshua Blankenship — Tue, 20 May 2008 21:07:53 +0000

My in-laws also care a great deal about us, but when we stay with them, we sleep on a rock hard bed in a fairly bland room.

From a design perspective, I’d say that has more to do with who designed the bed that with who birthed and raised your wife. I’m sure some of these ideas work their way down to the personal level, but I’m more specifically talking about organizations.

In general, I’d say that well-designed things (objects, environments, processes, systems) are a reflection of organizations who are constantly putting people in the center of their thinking, as opposed to the periphery. The chances of someone building a highly-functional, intuitive website or sign-up process that is a constant work in progress, adapting to the needs of users, without intentionally thinking about how people will use said thing are very slim.

And while it’s true that plenty of well-meaning organizations, people, churches, businesses love people and their customers, their actions (of commission or omission) often don’t prove that.