"Design by committee", "too many cooks in the kitchen" and other terms have been used as a derogative to imply the creative process breaks when it involves too many individuals. At the same time, the software world have been completely revolutionized by the open source networked collaborative process. The one field where the open source process lags behind the more conventional models involves graphic and interaction designs - two fields critical to software development that have not nourished similar collaboration models. What are the challenges of networked collaboration in the creative process? Can and how might they be solved? Or is it just that designers don't like to work together?

1. Making
“Design By Committee”
Work
The Pros and Cons of Open Source Design
@Mushon.com Oct 09
Thursday, October 15, 2009

2. Open source is great!
What about
Open source design?
Thursday, October 15, 2009

3. 1. Scratch an itch
Thursday, October 15, 2009

4. 1. Scratch an itch
• OS motivation - personal interest in
(and low costs for) collaboration
Thursday, October 15, 2009

5. 1. Scratch an itch
• OS motivation - personal interest in
(and low costs for) collaboration
• OSD motivation - not so straight-forward
Thursday, October 15, 2009

6. 1. Scratch an itch
• OS motivation - personal interest in
(and low costs for) collaboration
• OSD motivation - not so straight-forward
• Chicken & Egg - Designers don’t use OSS
Thursday, October 15, 2009

7. 2. Language
Encoding/Decoding
Stuart Hall 1980
Thursday, October 15, 2009

8. Encoding
framework
of knowledge
A
Thursday, October 15, 2009

9. Mutual Language
Thursday, October 15, 2009

10. framework
Decoding of knowledge
B
Thursday, October 15, 2009

11. Encoding
A A
Decoding
Thursday, October 15, 2009

12. Encoding
B A
ERROR
Decoding
Thursday, October 15, 2009

13. A A A
Thursday, October 15, 2009

14. A
A
A
A A
Thursday, October 15, 2009

15. Encoding
Thursday, October 15, 2009

16. Encoding
• Defining a language (code) is key in design
(graphic, color, layout, animation, interaction...)
Thursday, October 15, 2009

17. Encoding
• Defining a language (code) is key in design
(graphic, color, layout, animation, interaction...)
• Coding without a shared language (code) is
impossible
Thursday, October 15, 2009

18. Encoding
• Defining a language (code) is key in design
(graphic, color, layout, animation, interaction...)
• Coding without a shared language (code) is
impossible
• Setting collaboration standards is essential
Thursday, October 15, 2009

19. Encoding
• Defining a language (code) is key in design
(graphic, color, layout, animation, interaction...)
• Coding without a shared language (code) is
impossible
• Setting collaboration standards is essential
• Standardization VS. Innovation
Thursday, October 15, 2009

20. Decoding
Thursday, October 15, 2009

21. Decoding
• Code either executes or it doesn’t,
but a message interpretation isn’t binary
Thursday, October 15, 2009

22. Decoding
• Code either executes or it doesn’t,
but a message interpretation isn’t binary
• Inconsistent design fragments the message
(our brains can’t really multitask)
Thursday, October 15, 2009

23. Decoding
• Code either executes or it doesn’t,
but a message interpretation isn’t binary
• Inconsistent design fragments the message
(our brains can’t really multitask)
• Wikipedia’s has a largely rational guidelines
for decision making, design’s doesn’t
Thursday, October 15, 2009

24. 3. Granularity
Thursday, October 15, 2009

25. 3. Granularity
• In coding (software) and writing (wikis) the
building block is granular - a character
Thursday, October 15, 2009

26. 3. Granularity
• In coding (software) and writing (wikis) the
building block is granular - a character
• Allows for varied contribution:
Thursday, October 15, 2009

27. 3. Granularity
• In coding (software) and writing (wikis) the
building block is granular - a character
• Allows for varied contribution:
• Accessible ladder of contribution
Thursday, October 15, 2009

28. 3. Granularity
• In coding (software) and writing (wikis) the
building block is granular - a character
• Allows for varied contribution:
• Accessible ladder of contribution
• History
Thursday, October 15, 2009

29. 3. Granularity
• In coding (software) and writing (wikis) the
building block is granular - a character
• Allows for varied contribution:
• Accessible ladder of contribution
• History
• Moderation
Thursday, October 15, 2009

30. 3. Granularity
• In coding (software) and writing (wikis) the
building block is granular - a character
• Allows for varied contribution:
• Accessible ladder of contribution
• History
• Moderation
• Transparency
Thursday, October 15, 2009

31. So is it simply undoable?
(would I be wasting your time if I thought so?)
Thursday, October 15, 2009

32. Resource
sharing
/ Open Culture
Thursday, October 15, 2009

33. Wordpress 2.5
admin by HappyCog
Wordpress 2.7
Modified by the Wordpress team
Thursday, October 15, 2009

34. Thursday, October 15, 2009

35. Thursday, October 15, 2009

36. Thursday, October 15, 2009

37. Thursday, October 15, 2009

38. Thursday, October 15, 2009

39. Thursday, October 15, 2009

40. Thursday, October 15, 2009

41. Fixing it: 1. Scratch an itch
Thursday, October 15, 2009

42. Fixing it: 1. Scratch an itch
• Price is always itching, but it’s not enough
Thursday, October 15, 2009

43. Fixing it: 1. Scratch an itch
• Price is always itching, but it’s not enough
• We can’t force the use of bad tools as an
ideologic statement
Thursday, October 15, 2009

44. Fixing it: 1. Scratch an itch
• Price is always itching, but it’s not enough
• We can’t force the use of bad tools as an
ideologic statement
• Some success in webdesign / Wordpress
Thursday, October 15, 2009

45. Fixing it: 1. Scratch an itch
• Price is always itching, but it’s not enough
• We can’t force the use of bad tools as an
ideologic statement
• Some success in webdesign / Wordpress
• Still very code-based
Thursday, October 15, 2009

46. Fixing it:
2. Language
Thursday, October 15, 2009

47. Fixing it:
2. Language
Collaborative Encoding:
Thursday, October 15, 2009

48. Fixing it:
2. Language
Collaborative Encoding:
• 1st step:
Conduct a networked research
(we already have collaborative tools for that)
Thursday, October 15, 2009

49. Fixing it:
2. Language
Collaborative Encoding:
• 1st step:
Conduct a networked research
(we already have collaborative tools for that)
• 2nd step:
Define a modular and extensible language
* Support simple inheritance (like in CSS)
Thursday, October 15, 2009

50. Fixing it:
2. Language
Collaborative Encoding:
• 1st step:
Conduct a networked research
(we already have collaborative tools for that)
• 2nd step:
Define a modular and extensible language
* Support simple inheritance (like in CSS)
• 3rd step:
Document the language (style guides)
Thursday, October 15, 2009

51. Fixing it:
2. Language
Thursday, October 15, 2009

52. Fixing it:
2. Language
Collaborative Decoding:
Thursday, October 15, 2009

53. Fixing it:
2. Language
Collaborative Decoding:
• Some design decisions are rational, and can
achieve consensus, like:
Thursday, October 15, 2009

54. Fixing it:
2. Language
Collaborative Decoding:
• Some design decisions are rational, and can
achieve consensus, like:
• UX research
Thursday, October 15, 2009

55. Fixing it:
2. Language
Collaborative Decoding:
• Some design decisions are rational, and can
achieve consensus, like:
• UX research
• Technical aspects of design
Thursday, October 15, 2009

56. Fixing it:
2. Language
Collaborative Decoding:
• Some design decisions are rational, and can
achieve consensus, like:
• UX research
• Technical aspects of design
• Design best practices (in typography, use
of icons, interaction paradigms...)
Thursday, October 15, 2009

57. Fixing it:
2. Language
Collaborative Decoding:
• Some design decisions are rational, and can
achieve consensus, like:
• UX research
• Technical aspects of design
• Design best practices (in typography, use
of icons, interaction paradigms...)
• Blogs share resources and documentation
Thursday, October 15, 2009

58. Fixing it: 3. Granularity
Thursday, October 15, 2009

59. Fixing it: 3. Granularity
• When possible, use granular building blocks
- namely: use code
Thursday, October 15, 2009

60. Fixing it: 3. Granularity
• When possible, use granular building blocks
- namely: use code
• Get designers on version control systems
Thursday, October 15, 2009

61. Fixing it: 3. Granularity
• When possible, use granular building blocks
- namely: use code
• Get designers on version control systems
• Put all master files online
Thursday, October 15, 2009

62. Fixing it: 3. Granularity
• When possible, use granular building blocks
- namely: use code
• Get designers on version control systems
• Put all master files online
• Explore file non-code versioning (Dropbox?,
Alienbrain?)
Thursday, October 15, 2009

63. We can’t just sprinkle design
with the magic pixie dust of
“Open Source”
@Mushon.com Oct 09
Thursday, October 15, 2009

64. Collaboration is hard!
Let’s make it easier.
Suggestions?
@Mushon.com Oct 09
Thursday, October 15, 2009