#30101
Get Out from Behind the Curtain
When used at critical points in the design process, group sessions build strong, respectful relationships. Since clients directly experience the design work, you don't need to sell clients on an idea--they were with you the whole time.
Nelson, Sarah B. List Apart, A (2007). Design>Web Design>Collaboration
#31857
Making Research Actionable: An Introduction to Design Criteria
What happens when people want a company’s product, but are frustrated by the process of trying to get it? Obviously it should be reworked — but doing so can be easier said than done. When we’re asked to redesign a process, we often start by exploring the problem space with in-context research, which generates a large amount of data. That data tends to point teams in the direction of a number of possible solutions. But how should the team decide which direction is the right one? In such cases, I’ve found that Design Criteria — a set of rules a design team can follow — can be a key tool so when a design team creates or reworks a service or product, everything it does supports the user.
Nelson, Sarah B. Adaptive Path (2008). Articles>Research>Design>Business Communication
#34140
No Designer is an Island, or How I Stopped Complaining and Came to Embrace Collaboration
When I suggest collaborative design to some designers, I often hear, “Yuck! Collaboration is just design by committee!” They aren’t wrong. Poorly facilitated collaboration can kill a design project and demoralize a team. But the truth is, you can’t not collaborate. Whether you like it or not, you have to work with other people. You can work at them or with them. It’s your choice.
