The Myth of the Genius Designer

Source Article: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/genius-designers.html

There is a myth out there that states that if you hire a great designer, you don't have to worry about user testing. In theory, a great designer will come up with a wonderful interface design and you won't have to worry about anything.

Mr. Nielsen does not try to say that hiring a good designer is a bad thing. In fact, he encourages it. In essence, what he does say is that a great designer solves one problem, user testing solves another. Both elements are key in building a good website but they don't necessarilly solve the same problem. Graphic designers need to rely on user testing to come up with a good interface anyway. He used the analogy of an accountant. For your accounting, you will definitely want a good accountant but that isn't all. That accountant will need to rely on generally accepted accounting principles. If the user does not rely on user testing, he is no better than a loose cannon.

He provided some reasons not to rely on a "genius designer":

Genius designers probably aren't available at your fingertips.
Design is an inexact science.
Good designers get their ideas from tested methods (like user testing).
If they don't solve the right problem, you're not really getting anywhere.
Nobody's perfect. Their ideas will still take step-by-step improvements.

To summarize:

For a good starting point, get a good designer.
To reduce risk, ensure that your designer works from usability data, rather than guesses.
To improve quality, use iterative design and polish each round through usability evaluation.