Week+7

Moggridge defines design as a collaborative process as the inclusion of many sources into a design process. To create the most successful designs, a variety of ideas must come from sources with different minds. That is to say, a design team should involve not only people from different departments (marketing, accounting etc.), but should also include a member of the group that the design is for. For example, surgeons should be heavily involved in the design of a new surgical tool.

The first example of that Moggridge gives of creators involving those they are designing for in the design process is the American Red Cross. By allowing the donators to write down and publicly display their reasons for donating blood, it encourages others to donate as well. In this sense, the donators become part of the design process to attract other donators.

The second example is the ‘perfect cubicle’, a dream cubicle designed to break the common, dreary cubicle. In this design process, Scott Adams, the writer of the Dilbert comic strip is included. Dilbert is known for its harsh and demeaning view of the office world, and so Adams is the perfect member to include in a design aimed at defying office norms. In the end, the team ends up with a cubicle that allows for much greater personalization, which in turn makes the nature of the cubicle much less depressing.

Wikipedia

A prime example of a product that uses collaborative design is Wikipedia, the online, user-generated encyclopaedia. Although users are not involved in the layout of the website, they are the sole providers of the content. In this sense, Wikipedia is a product generated entirely by collaborative design.

Part of what makes Wikipedia such an important example is that anyone can be a user. That is to say, any person has the ability to add content to the website. Moreover, users are not only responsible for adding content; they are also responsible for editing it. The only way content is removed is if the contributor is flagged as harmful, whereupon the content they add is removed and the changes they make are undone.

Finally, Wikipedia can be seen as a product of collaborative design because it is entirely funded by the users. Rather than rely on income from advertising, Wikipedia uses fundraising from users to stay afloat. By doing so, it keeps Wikipedia unbiased, and therefore it prioritizes the users. For these reasons, Wikipedia is a prime example of design as a collaborative process.

References

Moggridge, Bill (2009). Design as a Collaborative Process. Retrieved from http://vimeo.com/2814939

Wikipedia. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page