My favorite web design that I have been involved in is the homepage of LDS Singles Network. The site is owned by my brother and I, and the process that has lead to the current design has often gone something like this:

  1. My brother gets dissatisfied with the existing design
  2. He comes up with an idea for how to overhaul it
  3. He emails me a mockup
  4. I see it and think "You've got to be kidding. First, I don't have time to fiddle with this. Second, this design introduces things you said you didn't like before. Third, the design has some serious flaws."
  5. I file the design away for later refutation
  6. I decide that the new design has some good ideas hidden in it
  7. I create a new design using those good ideas and fixing various problems
  8. We get together, come up with a few compromises between what each of us wants, and switch to the new design

Thus, the design improves.

Design by committee, even a committee of two, has advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, we have certainly been advantaged by having more than one person providing input and insight into the design. The cost is that we've had to spend a lot of time arguing over differences of design philosophy: do we need to cater to modem users? to people with small screens? where do we strike the balance between attractive design and making lots of information available? bright colors versus soothing colors? scrolling divs or scrolling pages?

In a way, this isn't really design by committee. As the programmer in the family, I'm the one who writes the PHP and puts together the final page. Thus, I have unofficial veto power over any idea I really can't stand. In that way, it's more like design with feedback--just that rejecting the feedback is a little more difficult than with the average person.

Enough on that. A few things I like best about the design:

  • Mostly monochromatic color scheme with just a few touches of other colors for variety
  • Lots of information is quickly available without creating clutter (the tabs are all preloaded, but don't have so much content that they make the page too heavy)
  • Cool technology without requiring plugins or huge amounts of JavaScript (click "Next feature")

The inside of the site isn't quite as spiffy as the homepage, but it's improving...through a painful process of ideas and arguments.