Web Analytics vs. Web Design: Why Can't We All Just Get Along?

One of the many great discussions at last week's JBoye conference in Philadelphia centered on Douglas Bowman leaving Google for Twitter because of his belief that Google has an over-reliance on web analytics data for making design decisions. Bowman was Google's lead designer. For the details, see the article in the May 9 issue of the NY Times.

This is a high-profile standoff around the value of analytics vs. personal opinion when it comes to web design, but the underlying conflict is quite common. Those on the design side may say that Google has gone too far with data, I know for a fact that design decisions being made by "the boss" on a unilateral basis is a common scenario. You know the one I'm talking about....where "the boss" says he wants the color red, even though the professional designers he has hired contend that the color should be blue. And even though there's user experience testing to back the professional designers' decisions.

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