Comments on: Design by committee: A designers worst nightmare!

By: How to Manage your Interaction with Clients - WebsitesMadeRight.com

How to Manage your Interaction with Clients - WebsitesMadeRight.com — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 01:10:34 +0000

[...] Design By Committee: A Designers Worst Nightmare (The Floating Frog) [...]

By: How to Navigate Design by Committee | LionWebMedia.com

How to Navigate Design by Committee | LionWebMedia.com — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 18:57:50 +0000

[...] design-by-committee-gone-wrong to date, along with Stop Sign Designed by Committee. Gary Hartley at The Floating Frog describes a typical design by committee [...]

By: Design by Committee – Making it Work « A Great Becoming…

Design by Committee – Making it Work « A Great Becoming… — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 06:32:49 +0000

[...] Design by Committee – Making it Work September 7, 2010 tags: design, games design, open source by Tomas It’s an oft repeated assertion that you can’t do good creative projects by Committee – that the needs of appeasing a large group of people leads to over-complexity and lack of a coherent vision: [...]

By: How to Navigate Design by Committee « Fanclub Demo #2

How to Navigate Design by Committee « Fanclub Demo #2 — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:24:56 +0000

[...] design-by-committee-gone-wrong to date, along with Stop Sign Designed by Committee. Gary Hartley at The Floating Frog describes a typical design by committee [...]

By: Kevin Jackson

Kevin Jackson — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:08:18 +0000

Great article! As web design company that specializes in not-for-profits, almost every design we do is a design by committee. I have found that there really is a process that works and ends up with a successful design. It requires a couple of full committee meetings, especially at the very beginning, where every committee member (and stakeholder, like Clive’s wife) is asked for input at the consultation meeting *in front of the rest of the committee*. At this meeting they are also told the rules of the process. Now when the feedback stage is reached, feedback needs to be open and shared with the rest of the committee again, so that peer pressure can be used to silence those who are now contradicting themselves, or to justify further design charges. And don’t forget the deadlines. Deadlines mean that the two committee members who did not provide feedback in time agree that their feedback will not be included without extra charges.

By: Dave Sparks

Dave Sparks — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:59:11 +0000

I think it’s important to understand the difference between design by committee and getting feedback.
Ultimately you should be designing and taking on board peoples thoughts but still have overall control and say so on changes. Provided you are sensible and explain design decisions well then I don’t think you’ll have a problem.
But there certainly can be a case of too many cooks.

By: sgorneau

sgorneau — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:17:17 +0000

@Blogger Article: While I agree with you, I don’t think that is relevant in this situation. No matter what the designer understands, it is the opinions/beliefs of the “committee” that get in the way. And too often these are people that don’t have defined goals and don’t understand UX. The designer’s “understanding” in this situation is the target of the firing squad, not a strength. In this type of scenario, the committee often believes the “thinking” is their part and the designer’s only responsibility is execution. They may say (often), “we really value your input and want your advice on the best approach…bla, bla”, only to disregard it completely. I think the point is, don’t get in this situation.

By: Niki

Niki — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:29:13 +0000

I cannot begin to tell you that I recently went through this working with a nonprofit committee and damn near lost my mind. Thanks for this post; thought I was the only one.

By: Blogger Article

Blogger Article — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:11:59 +0000

I think a good designer is a designer who understands what is required by the consumer.

By: The Unwritten Rules of Web Design - Inspect Element

The Unwritten Rules of Web Design - Inspect Element — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:15:57 +0000

[...] This will likely happen in larger companies but can happen with clients in design agencies and even freelancers too. There are things that you can do to minimise the impact of design by committee such as simply refusing to ‘design on the fly’ giving suitable reasons to why it is a bad idea. Paul Boag runs through some great tips in Combating Design By Committee. [...]