Usability Views Article Details  home | timeline | recent | popular | e-reports | userati | books | about  Be Cooler by Design: What you need to know about working with designers (10 May 2005) Just because you've diligently presented designers with the problem doesn't mean your involvement should end there. Robyn Waters, Target's former VP of trend, design, and product development, cites collaboration as Target's secret sauce. "I had a rule in my department -- no ta-das. It wasn't like design went out, researched, then made stuff and went, 'Ta-da!' " Make it a point to break down the silos and spend time in your designers' world. When Tom Dair's team at design firm Smart Design was developing Hewlett-Packard's digital-camera printer, the Photosmart 375, they made sure HP joined them on ethnographic adventures inside users' homes. "When people say they don't understand design, it's because they don't get involved in the process," Dair says. By teaming up throughout the journey, nondesigners learn that design decisions are based more on function than aesthetics, and designers aren't plagued with shocked reactions that lead them back to square one. Article URL: http://www.fastcompany.com/subscr/95/open_playbook.html Read 40 more articles from Fast Company sorted by date, popularity, or title. Next Article: Death to the Cubicle!     This site is a labour of love built by Chris McEvoy