How to Navigate Design by Committee

The phrase "design by committee" evokes a range of emotions from designers, mostly the kind you save for an arch-nemesis (think Lex Luthor) or expend on your Windows-based PC. A quick search will uncover a variety of articles and jokes bemoaning the process, and with good reason; it has long been the Achilles’ heel of many a designer’s creative freedom.

However, as enjoyable as it can be to slam the design feedback process, there are steps you can take to make the most out of it — because let’s face it — you usually don’t have a choice to design on your own (and if you do, consider yourself lucky).

In fact, there may even be situations when design by committee (when managed effectively) produces better results than a single design dictator could produce on their own. Like the old proverb says, "two heads are better than one," which can result in additional experience (knowledge of what has worked and what hasn’t in the past), combined creativity, unique viewpoints and efficient error checking.

You can read my article, along with 6 design by committee strategies, in full at Six Revisions.