On Sep 21, 2004, at 9:48 AM, Ken Friedman wrote:
> I simply say
> that we do better with research than without, and we learn from our
> research how to do better research. Generally, research has been
> associated with a reduction in failure rates.
>
> Much of this thread seems to involve teasing out details and
> distinctions on issues where we agree.
I'm generally of the opinion that it is better to know stuff than to
not know stuff but:
On Sep 20, 2004, at 4:53 PM, teena clerke wrote:
> some kinds
> of research need to be done by those who are non-practising, but WHY
> do 'many working designers' have difficulties with this?
There are legitimate and less legitimate reasons. The latter first:
Design that ignores anything but the will of the designer can be a lot
of fun and great affirmation for the designer. Anything that gets in
the way of that is a buzz kill. Rationalizing anything that one wants
to do and demonizing anything that keeps one from doing it is a broad
human tendency. (Over at Speak Up there's a conversation
[http://www.underconsideration.com/speakup/archives/002079.html#002079]
where people rationalize vandalism as some sort of contribution to
design and culture.)
OTOH, many researchers "sell" their work in a manner that promotes
sweeping "rules" rather than more nuanced understanding. (There was a
discussion on this list about web design, Jakob Nielsen, and Gerry
McGovern a couple of years back that addressed this.) Some (Nielsen is
one example) actually express hostility toward design and designers.
Additionally, legitimate research often morphs into folk
wisdom--"rules" of design that clients heard once and now state with
certainty.
Having someone restrict how you do your job for legitimate reasons is
often unwelcome for emotional reasons. Illegitimate restrictions are
unwelcome for both emotional and rational reasons. The association of
research and illegitimate restrictions is not -entirely- unfounded.
I assume Ken's response would be a corollary to the old saw about the
remedy to bad speech being more speech rather than less speech. If some
design research creates obstructions to doing good design the answer is
not to ignore or demonize research but to do more and better research
and to increase designers' understanding of research. That's one of the
details he and I agree on.
Gunnar
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