Re: Heresy! - No, reality, but with risks that may be unwise

Bravo Gilbert, great mail (flagged for future reference).

As Gilbert said so well, "Designing without any idea of what
constitutes success is the real danger..." Our assumption (which is a
good one) is that knowing what the user will want, or being
user-centered, helps us define success. This is of course a good thing.
I would echo Gilbert's point-of-view in venturing that this is a
starting point, not an end point.

Simply, we must operate like a chef, who certainly must possess basic,
fundamental knowledge about what flavors and textures go well together
and what people will [often] find delicious. Cooking to please the
masses may guarantee success but rarely does it yield art or joy or
noteworthy advancement. It is possible to do both, but I firmly believe
this means the creator/designer/author/chef must bring inspiration and
creativity to the table and pursue the right mix of user-centered-ness
and creative vision. This is the creative job, and it has always been
thus, no? Examples abound in older fields such as product design,
graphics, architecture, etc.

Best, Tom

On Tuesday, September 16, 2003, at 03:56  AM, Gilbert Cockton wrote:

> Good design happens without being user-centred, and bad design is not
> impossible when being user-centred.

- - - - - - - - - -

Tom Dolan
Creative Director, Principal
Polychrome Los Angeles | www.polychrome.org
626 585-8985 office | 626 622-1572 cell | 626 585-8747 fax
tomdolan aim

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