[Sigia-l] Are your intensions good/

[Gordon Ross]

The politics of design (as a process) are just as important as the 
politics of the object of design (as an outcome). You can employ 
user-centred design principles in designing a better electric chair, but 
at the end of the day, you're still designing an electric chair*.

At its core, Dan's quote has nailed it head on:

 > We should always ask, are the designs we make (or could make) good--i.e.
 > good for the users, those directly or indirectly affected, the culture,
 > the environment?
 >

After asking this question, there is no doubt the answer will be a 
contested, debated, and negotiated issue amongst all of the stakeholders 
*who have a say* in the design process (which is why user-centred design 
is often seen as a somewhat radical political act: bringing 
traditionally ignored/neglected parties into the decision making process 
about the design of objects, systems, and processes for their usage).

But asking the question, over and over again, for every project, with 
every client and every user, every day we work is really the point.

Looking forward to seeing the book, Dan.

Gord.

* Note: As ridiculous as that particular example might sound, those 
who've viewed the Errol Morris film Mr Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred 
A. Leuchter Jr, will recognize it. He's an expert on execution systems - 
and feels as though his work repairing and designing them allow for more 
humane deaths.


Dan Saffer wrote:
> 
> On Jul 7, 2006, at 11:03 AM, Ziya Oz wrote:
> 
>> Or put another way, is it the client's responsibility to choose the 
>> "right"
>> designer for its own agenda or the other way around?  Once a designer is
>> hired, does that mean that the designer is now "cleared" to pursue his 
>> own
>> (additional) agenda? In addition to the project particulars, are agendas
>> supposed to be negotiated between the client and the designer? Who is the
>> "intensions" arbiter?
> 
> There needs to be a balance between the values of the designer and those 
> of the companies the designer works for. Otherwise, more often than not, 
> the designer simply extends the values of the company itself, whether or 
> not he/she personally agrees with them. At Adaptive Path, we've 
> occasionally turned away work simply because employees have objected to 
> a possible client on ethical grounds.
> 
> The fundamental ethical baseline for interaction designers should be the 
> quality of the interactions engendered by the design between people, 
> both from the person initiating the interaction (the email sender, say) 
> and the person receiving it.
> 


-- 
Gordon Ross                                        gordonr at openroad.ca
OpenRoad Communications                       ph: 604.694.0554 ext 103
Internet Application Development                     fax: 604.694.0558
Vancouver, B.C.                                 http://www.openroad.ca