ABSTRACT
The results of my recent study into the design process indicated a serious disconnect between designer, client and end user. This disconnect explains some of the design aws that can cause unsafe and sometimes disastrous operational outcomes. Designers indicated that more than three-quarters of their contact with stakeholders was with those people they describe as ‘clients’, the people who commission them and pay them, whereas less than a quarter of their contact was with end users. The clients in large organisations are often as far removed from the workface as the designers, yet they are the ones drawing up the design requirements.
