To Customize or to Reuse

Sholom Sandalow, Thursday, May 25, 2006 @ 4:07 pm

Design patterns, Templates, Stock designs--whatever they're called, they present an opportunity and a challenge for designers.  All interface designers will run across this same question sooner or later.  When to customize and when to reuse a preexisting design. 
The answer to this question depends on what you consider to be the primary goal of the project.  Is it to build something unique and special--something that wows people because no one has seen it before?  Or is it to build an effective and on budget solution to a business problem? 
If it's the former, then as a designer you're primary goal is to create a work of art.  Go ahead and take the time to come up with something mind-boggling.  There's no limit to what can be done, and there's no reason to feel that a healthy dose of experimentation--both on the designer and the user's part--won't be beneficial.
However, if it is the later, you need to be aware that you are working under certain constraints.  Therefore the more you can reuse, the better.  There's plenty (and I mean plenty) of existing intelligence on interface design.  It's your responsibility to use that existing knowledge.  Incorporate it into your project.  Make use of the patterns that have been proven effective.  Make use of the processes that have been shown to be efficient.  In short, don't reinvent the wheel.  Use the collective knowledge that the web is offering you.
And you can start here:
Yahoo Design Patterns
HCI Patterns
User Interface Design Patterns

user experience design

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