On Jun 23, 2008, at 3:39 PM, James A. Landay wrote:
It seems odd (and in fact dishonest) to me that you cut that part out. He is asking questions here, not making a statement that it is true. And the fact is that there are UCD practices at Google, on the iPod team, etc. (I don't know much about Facebook or Twitter's practice, but I'm doubtful that Facebook doesn't have some UCD going on). Some companies do not want you to believe they practice these techniques so that they can make their designers into superstars and use that in their marketing.
Google practices UCD? Really? How so? Their bread and butter with the search engine was built and designed by engineers, pure and simple. I guess Google Apps are "user centered design" but really... how much is user centered versus how much is working from a wealth of knowledge form the past 30 years of making email, word processors and spreadsheet applications? Sure, a few features here and there are interesting, but those pieces are a small portion of the entire product offering.
Apple has been on record as not practicing UCD many times now. They design what they like, pure and simple. Are you saying they are lying?
Facebook? Um... have you been inside Facebook and seen how they work? Built by engineers and a bunch of youngin's during "Hackathon" fests that start in the afternoon and go all night until they get something. In fact, you can watch the Facebook Platform video yourself to see one prominent Facebook engineer say, "We basically make a bunch of stuff, throw it against the wall and see what sticks."
To my knowledge, Twitter was built organically, hardly planned on how people would use it at all. It just sort of happened from a fun project some engineer started. UCD there? Please show me.
For the people who are offended that there are people out there (like me I might add) who shun "UCD," well... it's really about time to shut us up by proving how much better products designed with that process are. I have yet to encounter a product that was designed via the "UCD methodology" that excelled in its product category. I attribute largely to an inherent flaw in favoring "users" over all else, which are both technology and business concerns.
I also attribute it to a phrase I have written on my whiteboard at home: "Designers have a process. Designers don't use a process." -- Andrei Herasimchuk Principal, Involution Studios innovating the digital world e. [EMAIL PROTECTED] c. +1 408 306 6422 ________________________________________________________________ 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
