Making Design By Committee Work

The Pros and Cons of Open Source Design

@Mushon.com Oct 09

Making“Design By Committee”

Work

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Open source is great!What about

Open source design?


1. Scratch an itch


1. Scratch an itch

• OS motivation - personal interest in(and low costs for) collaboration


1. Scratch an itch


• OSD motivation - not so straight-forward


1. Scratch an itch


• OSD motivation - not so straight-forward

• Chicken & Egg - Designers don’t use OSS


Encoding/DecodingStuart Hall 1980

2. Language


Encodingframeworkof knowledge

A


Mutual Language


Decodingframeworkof knowledge

B


Encoding

Decoding

AA


A

Encoding

Decoding

ERRORB


AA A


A

AA

A

A


Encoding


Encoding

• Defining a language (code) is key in design (graphic, color, layout, animation, interaction...)


Encoding


• Coding without a shared language (code) is impossible


Encoding



• Setting collaboration standards is essential


Encoding



• Setting collaboration standards is essential

• Standardization VS. Innovation


Decoding


Decoding

• Code either executes or it doesn’t,but a message interpretation isn’t binary


Decoding


• Inconsistent design fragments the message (our brains can’t really multitask)


Decoding


• Inconsistent design fragments the message (our brains can’t really multitask)

• Wikipedia’s has a largely rational guidelines for decision making, design’s doesn’t


3. Granularity


3. Granularity

• In coding (software) and writing (wikis) the building block is granular - a character


3. Granularity


• Allows for varied contribution:


3. Granularity



• Accessible ladder of contribution


3. Granularity




• History


3. Granularity




• History

• Moderation


3. Granularity




• History

• Moderation

• Transparency


(would I be wasting your time if I thought so?)

So is it simply undoable?


Resource sharing/ Open Culture


Wordpress 2.5admin by HappyCog

Wordpress 2.7Modified by the Wordpress team


Fixing it: 1. Scratch an itch



• Price is always itching, but it’s not enough




• We can’t force the use of bad tools as an ideologic statement





• Some success in webdesign / Wordpress





• Some success in webdesign / Wordpress

• Still very code-based


Fixing it:2. Language


Collaborative Encoding:




• 1st step:Conduct a networked research(we already have collaborative tools for that)





• 2nd step:Define a modular and extensible language* Support simple inheritance (like in CSS)





• 2nd step:Define a modular and extensible language* Support simple inheritance (like in CSS)

• 3rd step: Document the language (style guides)



Collaborative Decoding:




• Some design decisions are rational, and can achieve consensus, like:





• UX research





• UX research

• Technical aspects of design





• UX research


• Design best practices (in typography, use of icons, interaction paradigms...)





• UX research


• Design best practices (in typography, use of icons, interaction paradigms...)

• Blogs share resources and documentation



Fixing it: 3. Granularity



• When possible, use granular building blocks - namely: use code




• Get designers on version control systems





• Put all master files online





• Put all master files online

• Explore file non-code versioning (Dropbox?, Alienbrain?)


We can’t just sprinkle design with the magic pixie dust of

“Open Source”

@Mushon.com Oct 09


Collaboration is hard!Let’s make it easier.

Suggestions?

@Mushon.com Oct 09


Making Design By Committee Work

Design

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