Re:A Product Design Question a Day: Introducing Tavern
by Smudge on Tuesday July 01, 2014 @04:43PM
(#7973398)
> That's a boatload of navel gazing.
I had to chuckle, but that's a good way of putting it. Does the design community really need more introspection? My answer would be a resounding 'No', but maybe Zurb feels differently.
Regardless, Tavern is far from what Forrst once was. I'm glad they're at least changing the name, but I fail to understand why they're even associating the two products, aside from the fact that one is launching at the same time the other is being shuttered.
We should be looking to get to: "Does this effectively communicate the value of Product A. If not, what's unclear for you? Can you give a use case where this solution might fail with a certain group of users?" The feedback I get from a question like that should present objective advice, not a subjective opinion.
Looking at the homepage for Tavern, I see a fairly meaningless question in the example screenshot: "UX designer, UI designer, or Product Designer – do titles really matter?" That's a boatload of navel gazing. Debating professional titles is not a design problem. It's training young designers to wax poetic about their meaning as opposed to teaching them how to improve their craft and help others.
I don't say any of this to be mean or to look down upon the efforts of Zurb. They're a really brilliant group of people. But this is a murky path to head down in respect to turning people into better designers. I really hope the actual product will offer up more meaningful conversation.