________. For the People. By the People.

Design is a democracy. I don't mean a "design by committee" type of democracy. I mean democracy where the "common" person can contribute in a significant way to the final outcome. Unfortunately, design often lives in a we-they-ocracy. Clients say, "We paid them good money. They better come up with great design." Or design firms say, "We're the professionals in design. They may have ideas, but there's no way they are actually going to participate in the design of the final piece itself." This is a shame. When clients are actually given the chance to participate in design, good things happen. Here are three projects I participated in as client and designer where design democracy worked.

Project 1: Concrete Democracy
As a designer you've probably had the urge to try something different to expand your creative horizons. Last summer when I had some slack time (read no clients), I decided to help my mom redesign her kitchen. Now, I'm no architect, but I figured that with a design background, I should be able to come up with something nice. Executing the idea would be the tricky part. I could have just listened to her ideas and incorporated them in the final work. Instead I went a step further, and encouraged her to actually participate in the design. She hung drywall with me; she painted; she picked out cabinets; and she troweled the concrete countertop we poured together. All at age 70! And with a lot of blood, sweat and a few tears, I'd say we did ok (see the before and after photos below). Now she has a new kitchen and is quite happy. She's happy because she has some sweat equity in the design. This is design democracy.


Project 2: Force Democracy
When I was the advertising and interactive account executive for Air Force ROTC , the general wanted a recruiting brochure developed, printed and mailed to some special recruits in a very tight timeframe. Our creative firm at the time (who shall remain nameless), couldn't meet the deadline. So, I persuaded the firm to allow me to create the brochure using our branding guidelines, and they could tweak the design, copy, etc. to bring it up to a professional level. I expected fierce resistance, and I'm sure there was some in the creative corral (I know I would have). However, humble spirits prevailed and a good work was done through a design democracy (see finished piece below).
Project 3: Skate Democracy
Part of my desire with design is to not only do good work, but to do good. I hope with design to do as much good as I can, in as many places as I can, to as many people as I can, in as many ways as I can. So, I created the Open Project to help the Crossville Skatepark Association (a non-profit organization in our community) raise money. Recently they decided to launch a fundraiser and needed some assistance creating a self-promotional mailer. "No problem," I thought. "I can handle this. You guys just go about your business helping kids, and I'll have something ready for you." Well, I had this nifty idea to create the a mailer on some black sandpaper resembling skateboard grip tape. I came up with a nifty line of copy (It's rough out here) and the creative to support it.

Yet, something was missing. My design was just too boring. Then it hit me. Get the skaters from the community to create their own design on the front of each mailer that is both a personal and unique work of art. From this idea I changed the focus of the copy on the back from "We need a skatepark. Give us money," to "There's a person behind every skateboard." And I feel the resulting creative(see below) was all the better. Skaters got to express themselves through design. The Association has a unique promotional brochure to send to donors, and I learned a little bit more about design democracy.





What are your thoughts and experiences with design democracy? Have any examples to share?