Simple Piloting Tips for Non-Pilots
May 18 , 2005


Garrett Dimon recently published a nice article entitled “Simple Design Tips for Non-Designers” over at yourtotalsite.com. In it, he offers some advisable tips and tricks to employ in design efforts. As the title suggests, the article is aimed at non-designers and those with minimal or only informal design training.

I appreciate the substance of the article, but I have to take issue with this sort of ideal. Despite the fact that this article and others like it may be well written, contain good information and be helpful to many, they sometimes possess what I believe is an inherent danger. The perpetuation of the idea that non-designers can successfully engage in design using only tips and tricks is harmful to design – to the design industry, to designers and to clients who would employ designers.

This notion of casually approaching complex and difficult endeavors is very American. We Americans are supposed to be able to freely exercise our desires to be and do what we want to be and do. Couple this with the penchant we commonly have for wanting to learn how to do things “in 3 easy steps” and we have an unfortunate situation. It is, I believe, irresponsible to help perpetuate or champion this sort of approach to something as important and complex as design.

Now, I’m not saying that I believe Garrett was being irresponsible by writing the article. In fact, he offers good design tips and information on advisable practices in his article. But the title is rather unfortunate and, I think, does inappropriately characterize the idea of what design is and what design is supposed to do. After all, we would find it odd (or alarming) to find articles like:

- Simple High-rise Apartment Plans for Non-Architects
- Simple Fusion Tips for Non-Physicists
- Simple Surgery Tips for Non-Surgeons
- etc…

Design is no less complex or important than the professions referenced above. Professional failures in design are no less harmful than failures in these other professions. If you believe otherwise, I would have to wonder if you take your responsibility as a designer seriously enough. As I have noted before, business owners, billions of product consumers, political parties, charities (and those they serve), entire industries, and even entire nations are relying upon our competence in and understanding of design in order to appropriately serve them.

Now I’m not saying that the casual designer who works on the occasional website for a buddy carries the weight of entire industries or nations in his or her hands. But as designers, we should probably not be so casual with how we represent what it is or what it takes to be a designer. It is already hard enough to persuade potential clients of the very real need for excellent design without having to combat our own self-generated counter propaganda and our muddying the waters on who those in need of competent design should employ. Let’s leave that to the non-designers so that considering the source remains a relevant idea.