dear Mr.Koster,
I’m a design student studying at __________, of ____. I’ve read a lot of your blog entries and they’ve helped me a lot through my design project especially your article on “good design, bad design and great design.”
I would just like to ask you as a designer, what is a bad design decision? What are the points we often forget to incorporate in our designs .
Thanking you in advance,
R___ J_____
A decision that works against the soul of the work.
A decision that leads to intended functionality not actually functioning.
A decision that treats your customer, user, player, audience, viewer, reader, with contempt.
A decision that considers money to you more important than value to your audience.
The single biggest thing that we forget to do in our designs?
To see through the eyes of the audience rather than our own eyes.
13 Responses to “Mailbag: what is a bad design decision?”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Boy do I agree! “@raphkoster: Mailbag: what is a bad design decision? http://t.co/NiS5MWAJ5K”
A few from my mind:
“One you don’t learn from”
“One you don’t think through before implementing”
“One you refuse to change due to a ‘vision’ or ‘policy’ when clearly a majority of your customers find it objectionable”
@ryanwarzecha @raphkoster and this applies to any product development, not only game design. This is a must-read in my opinion.
I especially like “One you don’t learn from.” 🙂
One that doesn’t matter.
RT @raphkoster: Mailbag: what is a bad design decision? http://t.co/hIV0wzqU79
One that increases system complexity without increasing fun, or that’s invisible to the player (yeah, ask me how I know that one…)
RT @raphkoster: Mailbag: what is a bad design decision? http://t.co/hIV0wzqU79
You forgot one, Trying to please everybody.
According to MMO players…
All of them.
“You feel an organ only when it is sick.” Chinese proverb.
@George – Love that answer
Hi Raph ¡¡
For me , A bad design is the result of lack of Qualified Professionals
in the Ok final decision to that design or project And/Or Producers listening too much to Queens I want it all song 😀
Lots of time in my profession I have to say ‘yes’ to things that I would have never done in a project ; you warn them, you say to them it is a big mistake…………….. it seems that policeman in the entry of the local tv where I work must know Oracle Database better than all my team………
When problems come and see you were right, nobody says it to you,
and the result is always wasted money and here comes another project……
if you do things properly there are no bad designs, projects nor nothing
Greetings ¡¡¡¡