Jeff,
This was in my original post: "Clearly, both designers and usability practitioners have to understand the principles of what makes a site, or software or product usable, but this doesn't mean that the person who is the usability specialist would be an equally good designer." When a good designer is working, he or she is combining their knowledge of what makes things usable, with a number of other considerations -- user research, business goals, user types/personas, browser or OS limitations, back end limitations and more -- which all come together in a creative flow. The results of the creative flow, if the designer is a good one, will indeed be highly usable. It may combine many elements that have already been used in other software and web sites, web apps, etc., but the design will none-the-less feel unique - greater than the sum of its parts so to speak. That is what I mean by the intangible difference between art and science. It is artistry, talent, something more than just the synthesis of information, though it includes the synthesis of information. In my experience, the people who are very good at usability, as a science of measuring and analyzing, are most often not equally good at design. I dare say the reverse is also true. The meticulous, concrete, analytical temperament that are the hallmarks of a good analyst are rarely found at a high level in a good designer. If I could ask your indulgence with a rather elaborate metaphor, I would say that excellent usability practitioners are highly skilled at breaking down the whole into myriad parts and measuring them all separately. The excellent designer, on the other hand, is highly skilled at taking myriad inputs and creating a whole. The former strikes me as more inherently rational and science-like, while the latter strikes me as requiring more art. I agree with you that both disciplines are necessary. Without the science of usability, we would have a lot of bad software and webware. But without the art of design we would have no excellent software or webware. There may be people who combine these two temperaments - but frankly I've yet to meet them. Usually everyone is a mix of both but with greater excellence in one direction or the other. Joseph Selbie Founder, CEO Tristream Web Application Design http://www.tristream.com ________________________________________________________________ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
