Women participate in a survey with Lily Fisher, senior designer and developer with Think Tank Photo, on Friday night, August 8th, during the Women In Photojournalism conference in New Orleans, La.

As a product designer, it is interesting to me that most companies do not allow their designers to talk directly to their customers. Designers are very creative, analytical, and intuitive, and there is no substitute for talking directly to the person using the product. Regardless, many companies put other people in the way of this relationship, such as product managers, sales and marketing people, and the like. 

I think the simple reason for this is “control.” Companies don’t like for the designers to be in control, or even to give input on what should be strategically developed. 

Sometimes I refer to this as the “Politics of Product,” meaning the internal company politics that occur about which products should be developed and why. For those of you involved in the design, marketing, or sales of any type product, you probably already intuitively understand what “The Politics of Product” actually means. Let me further try to clarify this.

When a product is designed by committee, all sorts of people give input into what they think the product should be, each person representing a special interest. For example, the designer wants some cool features, the sales people want a certain price point, the marketing person wants something else, etc, etc, ad infinitum. The Politics of Product occurs when the grand debate ensues about what the product should be, what features it should have, what it should cost, and more.

My design philosophy is actually the opposite. There are no business people between the designers and the photographers. Designers should  listen directly to what the photographers need and want and make it for them. No politics! 

Using this design strategy is an absolute pleasure – working with photographers directly, the ones out in the field using the equipment, to find out what their needs are, asking them what works and what doesn’t. As a designer, the most satisfying thing is hearing from a photographer that the product exceeded his expectations!