Alertbox - The Myth of the Genius Designer
In this Alertbox article, Doctor Jakob Nielson discusses the myth of the genius designer that eliminates the need for user testing.
First off, Doctor Nielson gives the example that most cite as the proof of this myth; Apple C.E.O Steve Jobs. While Jobs is an excellent design manager, he is not a designer himself. In any case, he’s produced a fair number of duds over the years.
In one part of the article, he tells the reader several reasons why it’s wrong to assume that a good designer eliminates the need for testing.
- You need to run with the team that you have, not the one you wish you had.
- Even if a designer is amazing, that doesn’t mean all his ideas will be sure fire hits. They need to be tested to ensure that they’ll work well, and this is best done with actual customers.
- Web designers only improve through practice, and a key part of practice is failing and learning from your mistakes.
- Designs are only good if they solve the problem that they’re intended to, and that can be determined only through user testing.
- No design is perfect; they can always be improved in some small way.
Personally, I’ve never believed in the myth of a genius designer. Even the best web developers that I’ve known needed someone to go over their work and try and work out the errors and design flaws. However, this article did re-emphasize to me the importance of user testing, and I’ll make an effort to always have my projects thoroughly tested before release.