have u refused to overdesign

some times it happens that simple project comes from client, which is really at primitive n minimilistic level. designer might end up unnessesorily improvising it, lossing its simplicity . most of the designers i have seen are almost compulsive to change the existing system…i find it quite interesting to find the perfect point to stop n say this this should be interfered anymore…

I think it is a very good question…
It would be great if the big guys expressed their opinions on that matter.

Once I asked an experienced designer a similar question and i was told that I am a silly kid and in the real world none cares and that I should stop being an idealist. It seems there are many designers who change for the sake of changing, to make something different…but different doesn’t mean better.

new coffee pod systems. by the cup coffee. sacrifice taste for convenience. people have no taste anymore.

not sure this is what you mean, but…i’d have to contend that the 80/20 rule definitely applies in design. in shorthand, you can get 80% of a good design done with 20% of the total effort. getting to ‘design nirvana’, or where you think it’s 100% done, requires the additional 80% of the effort.

as a designer, i take every opportunity i can to get to 100%…but with the knowledge that the effort beyond the inital 80% is mostly self-gratification.

i’d also contend that 99% of the world is satisfied with an effort that gets to 80%. most project managers (non-designers) are likely happy with the 80% because it costs a helluva lot less than 100%…and understand that most people (customers) won’t be able to readily discern the difference.

i’m talking specifically the design effort here, but think it applies equally to scope and feature creep within a project as well (which i think is the question you’re asking)

tru tru