January 7th, 2009
Why I like 37signals Design Decision Posts
by Joshua Porter | 
16 Comments | shortlink: http://bokardo.com/p/902
I really like the design decisions blog posts at 37signals. A recent example: Design Decisions: Saying more in less space on the new Highrise site, in which a designer (in this case Jason) discusses how he made changes to a certain design. He shows the initial design, lays out the rationale for change, and then shows the changes. The structure of the post couldn’t be more simple.
But the reason why I like the posts isn’t because of the content (although it’s good). I really like the posts because they do it and nobody else does.
Now think about this. 37signals is a well-known company in web design circles and have a solid reputation as designers, and they’re releasing a beta design on their site, talking about its shortcomings on their blog. They’re designing in public. They have no need to do this. They’re risking their reputation here. Can you imagine if their design is less than perfect? Imagine what people will say? Holy cannoli…people might actually find something not-so-good about what they made.
In fact, it’s happening already. Just read down through the comments…many folks give their honest feedback about what’s wrong with the site. And you know what? In some cases the commenters are right. For example, several people are complaining that the headers in the page are getting squeezed by the content around them. I agree…I can feel myself not wanting to read them.
But those are minor details and will be taken care of eventually. Look at the overall outcome. The page will be better, and that’s the only thing that matters. If the goal was to protect the ego of the designers, they wouldn’t do this. If, on the other hand, your goal is to get the best design possible this is one way to get closer.
If you sweat design, if you want the best design you can possibly get, you want feedback all the time. You want criticism. You want people to push you to make things better. It’s a hard pill to swallow. But even the most attentive designers miss things.
So while the vast majority of designers sit back and hope their designs are solid, deciding not to talk about them, those who put themselves on the line publicly will end up with the best design. Sure, they take a hit on their ego…but that will always be reparable later when the design is bringing in the love.
It also shows that the team cares about the experience of their customers. If it’s apparent that they sweat the details of things like the number of pixels in a specific screen element, that transmits a powerful message to their audience. We care. We’re working on it all the time. You’re in safe hands. Etc.
It also is great publicity for their software. Having read 37signals for a long time, this is likely one goal of the posts, and I bet that these types of posts are among their most read. I know from my own experience that people love hearing about design rationale. My post Digg’s Design Dilemma, in which I look at how the design of the Digg site actually promoted gaming, remains a well-read post even though I wrote it two and a half years ago. And when I give talks people really like slides like this: How Social is Amazon?.
I also like the design decisions blog posts because they are perfectly aligned within a larger strategy…37signals is working at several levels to make their product better, show users they care, and grow publicity for their offering.
So, I wish more designers did this. I wish I knew what more designers thought. I wish designers would explain their rationale more often. I’m positive that 37signals takes a much different approach than many other designers. I know lots of folks who would design these pages in a completely different way. But you know what? Most aren’t talking about it on their blog, sharing their process, or going through this public ritual.
I think that design education in general needs to be more public. Design shouldn’t be mysterious! It should be everywhere, part of the culture, part of daily life. Kids should be designing in school. Design should be part of the curriculum. We should be soaked in it.
Who doesn’t like hearing about how things were made for them?
Links to this Post
Comments
1. John B 7:28am, Wed 7th, 2009
Very true, although when you start designing in public it you seem to find out very quickly that you can’t please everybody, and that can hurt. However, by getting the feedback and starting the discussion you can hopefully improve what you have.
When I last re-designed my blog a few months ago I tried some rather experimental ideas, however, when I posted for feedback in the Wordpress forums some, (well, many if not most), found my experiment quite distracting and I was able to change it to be both distracting to fewer people and, in my opinion, cooler in the first place.
2. Garrett Dimon 10:18am, Wed 7th, 2009
I’ve been doing the same thing with Sifter with one subtle difference. I was sharing our design decisions before we actually built anything. At first it was a bit scary, but ultimately, sharing the ideas ended up being arguably the most important decisions I ever made for most of the reasons you identified and then some.
So, speaking from experience, sharing design decisions is a very good thing. There’s almost unlimited upside and virtually no downside whatsoever. I strongly encourage anyone who’s building anything on the web to openly share their process and results. In the end, it will make all of us better for it.
3. Adam Wride 11:54am, Wed 7th, 2009
“Who doesn’t like hearing about how things were made for them?”
That is why the How It’s Made show is so addicting.
http://science.discovery.com/fansites/howitsmade/howitsmade.html
4. zephyr 1:13pm, Wed 7th, 2009
Ego can be both a powerful driving force and inhibitor in design. If your clients actually believe you’ve created the best possible design because you’re not talking about pros and cons, decisions and doubts, you’re not working with smart enough clients
5. Ryan 7:54pm, Wed 7th, 2009
I agree completely. My favorite articles in general are those concerning design decisions. Keep an eye out for freckle – Amy Hoy is the type to post about her processes (and already has). Good stuff.
I recently wrote about a process of my own, although it’s nothing extraordinary or anything.
6. Ben 6:02am, Thu 8th, 2009
I really like the 37 Signals design posts as well. It’s fascinating to watch a live site evolve like this and learn about the rationale behind the design decisions being taken.
7. Jonathan 7:57am, Thu 8th, 2009
Of course it’s possible to be cynical and say that in essence what 37S are doing is more for PR purposes than anything else. After all, they have already loudly stated that they don’t design for anyone but themselves. In that sense the above quote is truer than you realise.
However, it may be worth comparing 37S’s design blog with, say, that of Herald Tribune (I don’t work for them by the way, I only saw it the other day).
8. Josh 9:50am, Thu 8th, 2009
@Jonathan. I don’t think that’s cynical at all…that’s the reality of the situation. And…in this market (or any for that matter), could you blame them for trying to improve PR?
Nevertheless, I think it’s a bit much to say that 37signals doesn’t listen to anybody but themselves. While that may be their public persona, the brash way they talk about themselves (which is good for PR), if you read their blog at all you’ll find its just not true.
In these situations there is always the stage and the behind the curtain…
9. Michael 12:13pm, Thu 8th, 2009
that’s funny – when I took 37s and it asked me what kind of post I would to read more of in the future, I wrote “design decisions” – and so did a lot of people out there it seems, because 37s actually started posting a lot of dd’s compared to the last months… love it!
10. Jethro Larson 2:01pm, Thu 8th, 2009
You’re dead on. Thanks for the post.
11. Jason Fried 2:31pm, Sat 10th, 2009
Thanks for the write-up. Glad to hear you’re enjoying the design decisions post. We are too. We’re definitely going to be designing our new marketing sites in public. Highrise is the first one and we’re still making adjustments. We’ve learned a few things since the initial launch and are conducting some A/B testing to learn a lot more. We’re going to do our best to share as much of the process as we can.
12. Claire 4:20am, Thu 12th, 2009
It’s a big thing to do for 37signals, but they obviously know exactly what they’re doing. They want criticism, they want opinion. Yes certain comments might hurt the designers – as it is their pride and joy at the end of the day, but in the end they will be designing something that will hopefully please most viewers, and whilst designing they have gained more viewers!
I think posting that will give so many people the chance to influence something is clever, and in turn will get a lot of viewers.