Tragic Design

Chapter 7. What We Can Do

THE HARD PART IS not convincing you. Chances are, if you picked up this book, and read it all the way to here, you are already convinced of the importance of good design decisions. If you want a new house, it’s twice the work to choose land with a shabby house already on it. You either have to demolish the old one or find all the differences between the old house and your plan and make all the required changes. It is much easier to demolish the old one and build from scratch. It’s the same with changing the minds of people and the way things are done. You first have to demolish the belief system they already have and then build up the new ideas from the ground up. The easiest part of what we can do is acting on what we believe. We have deconstructed the myth of how design affects people’s lives (or rather, doesn’t) and hopefully convinced you that it does. Now the hard part will be convincing those who aren’t converted and challenging what is already in place: your boss’s beliefs about the value of design, the politics at work, and of course national politics. This is very difficult, but the good news is that change is possible, and once that change gets going, it goes fast.

What We All Can Do

Before we speak specifically to designers, we want to address anyone else who might be reading this and is interested in what part they can play. This advice may also be shared with friends and colleagues.

The biggest enemy of change is complacency, and ...