Website Design—Let the Community Vote on it?
The Sun Student OSUM community today launched a contest that allows users to VOTE and pick the new design for the social Ning platform. It's an interesting concept: by letting the community vote and choose, will the wisdom of the crowds ring though?
> UPDATE: Design Poll Completed (Green Won!)
This is the first time that I've personally been involved in a design project were the users get to pick the final design. Typically, we define the overall goals, create the different design options, and then let the "executive" in charge pick the final design. But here, the users ARE the the final say.
So the question is: does the wisdom of the crowds theory really work in this instance? Will the best design get picked by the community? Does the theory show that people are smart in groups? Anyone who's seen an angry mob will dispel that theory.
The truth is is that crowds, presented with the right challenge, in the right context, can be wise. When it works, the crowd is wiser, in fact, than any single participant.
And, hopefully, i'll be a little bit wiser and informed about social community platform designs.
