Have you heard of “design by committee” ? If you are dedicated to graphic design, architecture or industrial design, you may know the term used in English: “Design by Committee”.
Design by committee is a derogatory term used for those projects in which many designers or a large decision group participate, thus losing the guiding idea and the initial creative plan. It refers to a design process in which the design undergoes many levels of approval and is judged and evaluated by many “eyes” before being validated.
In my career as a ux and web design professional , I have verified on many occasions that the greater the number of people who design, comment or decide about a web design, a logo, an application, a web product or similar, the more risk exists that the project ends up failed and thus lose the original idea.
I show it graphically:
If more than one or two people decide on a design project, you run the risk of moving away from the good and the optimal . More than four is extremely toxic . Surprising?
Avoiding the design committee trap is one of the keys or factor to take into account to be successful in the redesign of a web project . When several people coexist in the creative direction of a single project, the most interesting creative elements are canceled and the original idea is lost. Creativity is not an intellectual average . Dissenting creative decisions produce a Frankenstein. Consensus decisions place a project in the middle, or rather, in the middle . Those of us who handle colors know that by mixing two pure and intense colors, a gray is obtained.
Popular wisdom proves us right. Do you know the saying “Too many cooks spoil the broth”? And this other humorous maxim: “A camel is a horse designed by committee.” For you to understand, an animal as extraordinary as the penguin could never have been designed by committee.
In future posts I will delve into how to avoid committee design and how to work collaboratively without falling into its trap . Attentive
