[Sigia-l] Role of designer eroded?

[Louise Hewitt]

Hi,

I for one value the input of 'graphic' designers on any product, and hope
that developers and content producers value the UX/IA input I bring in the
same way.

Social media needs 'design' in the same sense as all other media - it's just
that the elements which we design are different.

Instead of designing the complete broadcast, we are engaged with designing
spaces to facilitate the broadcast, whehter they are visual environments,
data frameworks to enable successful publication and discovery, or
aggregation or 'collection' environments that bring those elements together
for consumption.

Perhaps we might need to be flexible to support these, particularly in the
tools/deliverables we offer, but the service is still of value.

Lou.

On Thu, Jul 16, 2009 at 11:05 PM, Jonathan Baker-Bates <
jonathan at bakerbates.com> wrote:

> I'm probably trolling, but what the hell...
>
> Has anyone else noticed a small but increasing trend for people to
> equate the coming of social media, "web 2.0" etc. as in some way
> signalling the erosion (or even complete eclipse) of the traditional
> role of the designer?
>
> I'm not sure what Dan Chamberlain meant on an earlier thread here when
> he asked whether there is a role for the information architect in the
> social media environment, but that's the sort of thing I'm talking
> about. I was also fairly amazed to hear Matt Webb of design agency
> Schulze & Webb appearing to conclude a similar thing in his Reboot
> Britain talk a few weeks ago:
>
> http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=7510
>
> (I say "appearing to conclude" because I'm unsure what he was really
> trying to say - and to be honest I found it a pretty aggravating talk in
> the end).
>
> I'm all for the idea that design needs to accommodate culture, and that
> design itself contributes to and shapes culture, but I'm not sure how
> that then means the role of the designer has, or even needs, to change.
>
> Am I the dinosaur here or is this "new role" stuff just hot air?
>
> Jonathan
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------
> IA Summit 2009:
> Peabody Hotel in Memphis
> Pre cons on March 18 and 19
> Sessions on March 20, 21, 22
> -----
> When replying, please *trim your post* as much as possible.
> *Plain text, please; NO Attachments
>
> Searchable Archive at http://www.info-arch.org/lists/sigia-l/
> ________________________________________
> Sigia-l mailing list -- post to: Sigia-l at asis.org
> Changes to subscription: http://mail.asis.org/mailman/listinfo/sigia-l
>



-- 
-------------------------------------------------------

Clear & effective digital communication.

louise.hewitt at gmail.com

+ 44 (0) 7595 829647

louisehewitt.co.uk

------------------------------------------------------