We are all designers, but not everyone should be engaged in design

The famous American scientist in the field of design and custom engineered Don Norman (Don Norman), who coined the term User Experience, once said that we are all designers.

Don says, as we get used to things, make them your own. In this case, not everyone is a professional designer who makes decisions based on experience and knowledge.

Professional designers make things more attractive and improve their work. They can make a beautiful, creative product, which we fell in love at first sight. They can create a product that will meet our needs, easy to understand, easy to use, with whom we can work the way we want.

Don Norman

Therefore, to say that all of us - the designers, in some respects incorrect. Everyone can participate in the design, but not necessarily that it will become a designer. To work can attract and lay people, but we can not allow them to manage the process.

Welcome to the design!

Everett McKay (Everett McKay) was UX-scale skills designer to calculate your level or measure the level of skills of your team. At level 0, you can define the surface design of the problem - and it is here that there is a majority. To go higher, you should be able to articulate the design problems and be sure that the obtained solution to the problem - right.

Kyle Murphy (Kyle Murphy) from Hudl He writes that in any team there are obvious designers such as, strictly speaking, designers. In his excellent article, "We are all designers, whether you like it or not," Kyle says that the team has other designers, such as managers, developers and product managers.

He identifies and less obvious options, such as lawyers, salespeople, marketers, specialists in working with clients.

But this does not mean that everyone can be a good designer. According to Kyle, designers are not:

• managers who do not pay enough attention to the project before the deadline, and then criticize the already finished work;
• Developers, too patronize your database and code;
• project managers who want everything at once.

From such executives, managers, upstarts need to get rid of. And in any case do not go at them on occasion.

Working design group - not a collective mind. This dictatorship of many. And you most likely will have to try on the role of the designer, not just the organizer. Eventually you will want to expel anyone who does not look at the design process from this point of view.

Design - is a joint work... up to a point

You are engaged in design, together with someone else, but that does not mean that the design process - fully co-creation. There is a time (in the early stages), when any critical response, and there are times when you want to narrow down the list to express an opinion.

Cooperation - the driving force in order to buy something or to build. If the project involves several persons of the type discussed above, it may happen that someone will come at the right time to communicate - and that paralyzes the entire project.

Therefore, it is important to keep in mind three things:

1. Who is involved with you in the project. Think about who is involved in the employment of persons to remain in the project from start to finish. Questioned them in detail (for this purpose should be used advanced guide Kim Goodwin (Kim Goodwin), without regret part with unnecessary people.
2. When and from whom you will need feedback. Involved in the project all at once - the easy way. But experience shows that doing so is not necessary. Plan who will be needed at different stages of the process. For example, marketers can come in handy in the beginning to help properly set goals, but can seriously interfere with, if they are involved in the process of revision of small parts near the end project.
3. Know when cooperation is needed to finish. Not zavyaznite in an endless process of corrections and responses. It's a real time-killer. You need to understand at what point should finish the job.

We start from the board

Method of comprehensive thinking suggests that work begins with an extensive mind mapsWhich can later be reduced. You can connect as many people as possible to correctly identify the problem before it to seek solutions. In this case, all the participants will be the real designers, because the formulation of the problem and finding a solution - universal design skills.

During the startup phase of the project to connect all the brainstorming. You can offer an open, horizontal structure, in which everyone can have equal access to resources (design files, business performance, user data). Let everyone who wishes to participate in studio workshops in design - it will be part of the launch of the project preparation. Ideally this should be done on a monthly basis, when you think about the improvement project or adding new features.

Focus on the goal of each and provide training on the job - is also a task of the designer.

Then narrow the playing field

At this stage, you need to decide which ideas are worth pursuing, what items to remove, where you need to clarify and so on. You will need the designer with a high level of skill, not a man with a design mindset. You need a professional who is able to separate the valuable ideas of personal opinion.

You can also go to an open hierarchical model when you develop the first models and prototypes.

Anyone can take part in the project, but the design team has the right to make the final decision, some ideas to give the course.

You still will receive a response, but such a disciplined, the model will help prevent a situation where all the criticism comes in the final stage (as often happens).

When people offer you options for new solutions, always ask them what problem they want to solve. If in the decision taking part several people, the project may get stuck at the stage of making changes or, even worse, people can take the path of least resistance.

Remember that the response - is a mutual process, and you need to react to feedback. This is a negotiation, not orders.

When the "cleaning" of the product stick to the planned structure of the project, otherwise the original idea can turn into something vague, drowned in compromises.

Good design comes from the decision-making and learning. Criticize, check your design on the users, analyze, improvise - and so the circle. But if you want to please everyone, you will frustrate all the time - you will have to pull in different directions, while you try to fix the position.

At one point, the circle must be broken if you do not want to ruin the entire project.

Not everyone is an expert

Everyone in some way designer. But you - the expert. If you manage the process, do not let others lead you. Understand that the designer nowadays equally and designer, and creator. And if you do not manage themselves, somebody else can eventually spoil your creation.