Michael Roller

Designer Bias: “Not Designed by Me”

I’m still enjoying the comment from my previous post. It pinpoints one of the problems we designers sometimes have when evaluating the work of our peers. Mostly i don’t like the designs which are designed by others even if they are beautiful. If you’re not a designer, this might not make any sense. If you are, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

Most designers have some preference towards their own work. Honestly, we should because it shows that we’re passionate about our ideas and working hard to develop the best solutions possible. Things start to go bad when this preference begins to effect how we evaluate the work of our peers. Finn McKenty and I call this the “Not designed by me” bias.

For this bias, a designer will find something wrong with any product, layout, or experience they’re asked (or not asked) to evaluate. A current example of this bias might sound like this:

I don’t like the iPhone. I don’t like how the white earbuds look plugged into a black phone. It’s not integrated enough. Why can’t Apple make black ones?

Once you’ve identified this bias, my recommendation is to share it with others. First, identify the last time you made a ridiculous design critique. Were those radii really .050″ too big, or is it just that they were not designed by you? Taking the first bite of humble pie will make it easier for others to follow, and you’ll start to overcome the “Not designed by me” bias.

Tags: designer bias

2 Comments to Designer Bias: “Not Designed by Me”

1. [...] have for our work, opening up communication towards objective evaluation. I’ve written about designer bias in the past, and Design Sojourn currently has a related post that reminded me to do this again. A [...]
Designer Bias: Novelty | Michael Roller on December 18th, 2008

2. [...] See also: Not Designed By Me [...]
Verbal Vampirism | Michael Roller on February 16th, 2009

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