Where design goes to die

It dies in meetings, where design by committee ensures that 1+1+1+1=0. Where good ideas are piled on top of good ideas until the meatball sundae that pops out of the other end induces palpable nausea.

It dies in endless tweaks, where a cohesive whole is slowly ripped apart to become a Jackson Pollock knock-off, impressive and colorful, but lacking structure or a sense of purpose.

It dies at the hand of the overbearing, practicing amateur. Everyone’s a designer after all - why should one person’s professional opinion matter more than the life experience that everyone else has so clearly had?

And finally, it dies its ultimate, slow death as the last breath of idealism creeps out of the once motivated designer’s moribund self and they breathe their last breath of hope. When the goal of a perfect combination of functionality, aesthetic, and user experience is kicked to the curb because fighting the good fight is too hard, and sometimes a paycheck is more important.

I’m a programmer. I don’t say this because I felt this, I says this because I’ve seen it happen and sometimes I need to remind myself not to be an agent of design’s demise.