The design curve October 28, 2007

When there is a site to design, there are a lot of people who become information architects at the drop of a hat. Everyone considers himself/herself an expert on the topic. All of a sudden the designer becomes a mere puppet and is reduced to someone who simply executes everyone’s ideas in the form of a web page.

Matthew Inman in an article on http://www.seomoz.org/ calls this the design curve. According to him the more the wrong kinds of people get involved with the process, the worse the design gets.

He defines the right and the wrong people to get involved in the design process of a web site.

The right kinds of people:

• Anyone who has designed anything visual
• Usability expert
• Someone who offers constructive criticism
• Those who leave the designer to do the job

The wrong kinds of people:

• Non-designers
• Management types who have no design experience
• Those who think that flashy and graphic heavy sites are still hot
• Clients who have a little experience on the internet and feel that they have an “edge” over others in web design. 

Read this amusing and interesting, but very true article for details.
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-to-ruin-a-web-design-the-design-curve