One reason that designers don't participate in open source is that they don't like the design-by-committee approach. On open source projects, everyone (understa

One reason that designers don't participate in open source is that they don't like the design-by-committee approach. On open source projects, everyone (understandably) wants a say in the visual and interaction design of the software. But while having many participants contributing to source code can work well, I don't think this model works well for design. It sounds really undemocratic (why shouldn't everyone have their say?). And it undoubtedly contributes to the sterotype of the designer as diva or precious about their work. But can you think of an open source project praised for it's visual and interaction design that was colloboratively develeoped with dozens or more participants? If you can, it will be an exception, not the rule. When there are too many participants in the design of a program, you end up with a project pulled in every direction and pleasing to no-one. But if you go the opposite route and limit design decisions to a dedicated UX team, you end up generating resentment from contributors or users who feel their input is being ignored (just look at Ubuntu for an example of this). From a designers perspective, either of these scenarios will seem like a no-win situation.