Design as a compromise

Found this paragraph in Bill Buxton’s book “Sketching User Experiences“:

“People on a design team must be as happy to be wrong as right. If their ideas hold up under strong (but fair) criticism, then great, they can proceed with confidence. If their ideas are rejected with good rationale, then they have learned something. A healthy team is made up of people who have the attitude that it is better to learn something new than to be right.“

Why do I blog this? I found quite interesting how this quote shows how design is compromise, it’s also something I should add up to the post

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 5th, 2007 at 9:18 pm and is filed under Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “Design as a compromise”

  1. Tilda Blanchett Says:
    December 12th, 2007 at 6:58 pm

    I haven’t read the book, but based on the quote I don’t think your interpretation of design as compromise is so on the mark. The quote is pretty straight up about there being a right and a wrong, and you fall on either side of that. Not much meeting in the middle alluded to.

    In general, however, I do see how the idea of compromise is significant in design. Frictionless transmission or access to functionality is so rare. That’s where insight, innovation, creativity, and craft are so important in design.

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