Collective Design Intelligence

" I don't suggest that design should be a democracy. But shouldn't design at least be a conversation? Designers can put their ideas on the web. Customers can make suggestions and discuss them. Designers can take the best ideas and adapt them, giving credit where it is due." - Jeff Jarvis

Although Starchitects and single authorship will probably never disappear in the design industry, however, as our world becomes more flattened and interconnected due to hardware (broadband, wifi, smart phones, portable notebooks, etc) and software (social networking, blogs, Google) ubiquity, the number of off-mainstream & off-the-shelf design opportunities for the amateur or the 'not-yet-famous' becomes greater.

A decade later
Starchitects will continue to serve the rich and powerful elites, covering 5 % of total commissions & clients...and diminishing, but its the Emergent Designers who will accommodate the needs of the mass of niches, which accounts for the rest 95%...and increasing, meaning if a portion of niches are gathered, they will combined to achieve more significant cultural influence over a major starchitects' project. Chris Anderson's Long Tail theory has been true in movies, music, and publishing industry, design might also be true. Whats for sure is that Internet allows present and future of design process to run on open-meritocracy over hierarchy.