Design Dictatorship or Design Democracy?

The design process often requires shifting between dictatorial and democratic mindsets.

The dictatorial mindset favors elements like (elite) expertise, speed, efficiency, and form (over humanity). You take this too far and you get the worst of Modernism like Pruitt-Igoe.

The democratic mindset favors participation, deliberation, diversity, collective intelligence, and embracing the inherent messiness that comes from human interactions. But if you take this too far, you get the infamous “Design By Committee.”

The art and craft of Community Centered Design is knowing how dictatorial and how democratic we should be at which point in the process.

From my workshop on Facilitating Community Engagement at Designing for Digital in Austin, Texas, March 2018.