Everyone is a designer

There is a new buzzphrase that has emerged. Apparently, we are entering the age of experience. The future will tell if this, like many other things, will pass or stick. However, one thing is certain, people that build products and offer services are becoming more and more aware of the need to provide the user with an experience that matches their expectations.

The deeper trend that this reveals is that there will be more demand for products to be designed instead of just being put together haphazardly. The corollary to this is that more and more people will be put in a position to make design decisions. And many of these people will not be professional designers.

A few weeks ago, while I was at a conference, someone asked the speaker: “How to we deal with developers that think that they are designers?”.

I don't remember who answered the question at the time but I remember the answer: “They are designers; Everyone is a designer”.

In short, everyone designs, we all make design decisions all the time when we do mundane things like shopping for furniture or pick clothes. That doesn't mean that all the design decisions we make are good. The responsibility of professional designers in this case is to help people with less design knowledge to make the right decisions and spend the time to educate them on what is bad design. Sometimes, a little bit of knowledge goes a long way.

Coincidentally, on my wait to the airport after the conference, I struck a conversation with the cab driver. He asked me why I was in town and I told him that I was at a conference about web application design. He went on and told me about his web site and how he was designing it and he barraged me with questions all the way to the airport. As I was stepping into the airport he followed-me to the door and asked: “If you had one tip, just one, what would it be?”

I gave him some random advice about not making his users work for nothing (like filling forms and whatnot). He thanked, me gave me the URL of his web site (he was selling African coffee online) and I went in the airport.

I have had some time to think about this a little more since then. I would probably answer something completely different today like: “Buy Don't make me think and read it.”

But that is not the true morale of the story. The most important is that any little bit of knowledge about design is worth sharing. Because, whether it is by choice or not; Everyone is a designer. And I never know when I might need to order some African coffee online and at that time, I'll be happy that I don't have to fill-out all those extra forms that he was going to put in his web site.