Limits of opportunities of the Ingenious Designer

The question consists not in that to employ the good designer or to not employ and in that - whether the good designer will relieve of necessity for attraction of the expert on usability. Certainly is not present.

To rely only on " the ingenious designer " it is harmful for the following reasons:

    * those people with whom you can involve in it take part In your project, instead of about of what you dream. For the majority of the companies is practically unreal to involve in the project someone even from hundred the best designers of the interface.
    * the Design is not the exact science; even if your designer the genius, not all his or its ideas are equally good. Quite naturally for reduction of risk to subject all these ideas to checks in real conditions with real users. Remember, new ideas can be checked up with the minimal expenses by means of paper prototypes.
    * As designers in general become good designers? Studying as experience to what ideas work, and what are not present. For reception of this experience tests which are spent by experts on usability are required.
    * Even the best designers can create a successful product only in the event that they solve correctly a task in view. The remarkable interface at absolutely incorrect function will not make your product better. And how designers learn, what is necessary for buyers? By means of researches of users.
    * Nobody is ideal. Even very good design can be improved, if it to pass through process of stage-by-stage improvement of quality. At each stage you spend tests with users and on the basis of results step by step climb up all above and above as the user interface.

Experience of several decades of system of maintenance of quality speaks, that the best results can be received by means of continuous process of improvement of quality where at each stage of improvement checks of a product in real conditions are spent. It is much more true, than easier to hope that the designer has made all correctly from the first.
The best principles and methods

As analogy we shall consider an example with accounts department. As well as in case of with designers, is better to employ the good bookkeeper, than bad. But in any case your bookkeeper should follow the systems GAAP (" the General principles of conducting book keeping ", the preparations of the certificated bookkeepers developed by the American institute). All the best methods have under themselves any vital basis and if you use them, at you is more chances to pass tax check than if your bookkeeper would do all as to it will take in head.

And in our case, the satisfaction of the user and success a web-site will be necessarily reached, if you will follow the best methods usability (written down and systematized), instead of to invent the own, unusual user interface.

The difference between design and accounts department consists only that in very rare cases and under special circumstances at you the best design if you on a step recede from the standard principles usability can turn out. But whence to you the nobility, what your case - that rare exception? To rely on intuition? And can carry out is better research and learn authentically?

As a result:

   1. For the beginning, find the good designer.
   2. For reduction of risk provide the designer with data about usability that it did not rely on guesses and conjectures.
   3. For improvement usability, use stage-by-stage process of improvement of design, and at each stage spend tests on usability.