Sorry I'm a bit late to this thread. Ignore if you want.
I think people have forgotten where the idea of listen to your
customers (or users) came from, though I think Dan Saffer's response
in this thread came close to how I feel.
The idea source, as I remember it, was the radical notion that
On 28/03/2008, Kristof Versluys [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
What people tell they do What people actually do = completely different
Listen to your customer. Get him involved.
But even better, see him use a product/website/...
Give him simple tasks. Ask him to describe what he's doing.
I say
Did you run across the situation when after researching the users you find
that people stick to a wrong or inefficient way of doing the target
function, and you find yourself choosing between insisting on the better
practices and thereby perhaps losing a big part of the conservative
audience, or
I am going to get slightly philosophical and maybe it will illustrate
the topic better/differently.
People have functions
Products serve functions
People rarely think about these functions, they just do them.
Therefore asking people about these functions rarely gives you the
right answer, because
This article about Ketchup, of all things, is a good reminder that
market forces and embedded tastes cannot be underestimated ...
* http://www.gladwell.com/2004/2004_09_06_a_ketchup.html
Welcome to the Interaction Design
Yup!
Question assumptions and be lucky enough to work in an environment/
culture where you are a) allowed to fail b) not look stupid for doing
it and c) rewarded with the aim of coming up with something better.
rgds,
Daniel Szuc
Principal Usability Consultant
www.apogeehk.com
T: +852 2581
Depending on the situation, I do or don't listen to what people say.
For really big innovations that have absolutely nothing to do with
anything out there now, asking the average consumer about them isn't
useful in most cases. One is better off researching trends, coming up
with multiple scenarios
Talk to the customer to understand the needs and issues, not to have
them help design. Designers design, consumers consume - that doesn't
mean the consumer can't tell you what is bad about their current
experiences to feed the design fire. We hold a lot of user meetings
and have to craft
At 6:05 PM + 3/27/08, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
... snip ...
So should I stop talking about focus groups? Is the old method of ask and
listen not applicable - particularly when designing stuff that's 'future
proof' and therefore impossible to assess with the users of the future - or
should we
On Mar 27, 2008, at 9:05 PM, Marijke Rijsberman wrote:
For instance, testing prototypes is not a good way to suss out what
(small?) percentage of people is going to do something like write
reviews, tag their expenses, or do some other power user type of
thing which demands a lot more
The most common misconception about design research is that you are
asking users what the design should be. You aren't (or shouldn't be).
Instead, the best design research I've been involved in is about
finding data on three things:
1. Unmet needs. Usually unspoken and unrealized. Yes,
What people tell they do What people actually do = completely different
Listen to your customer. Get him involved.
But even better, see him use a product/website/...
Give him simple tasks. Ask him to describe what he's doing.
Pay attention to the underlying issues;
if he/she wants a faster
-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Andrei
Herasimchuk
Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2008 7:17 PM
To: IXDA list
Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] Don't listen to your customers.
On Mar 27, 2008, at 11:05 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Your learned
There are tools for the appropriate places and times. Focus groups are
attitudinal and small group dynamics being what they are can skew
consensus. Perhaps not the best use for some things we do.
Ethnography and other social science approaches towards observing
the user in the environment may be
Wasn't it mentioned here or somewhere else that the first use of Focus
Groups was for the Edsel?? If that doesn't about say it all -
There is the story about the 12 people (?) brought in to focus group on a
new personal stereo (boombox they were called at the time), and people were
asked what
Hi John,
Instead of using focus groups, I use personas to get a clear view on the
user goals. Constructing personas isn't about asking what users want. It
is about trying to figure out their daily goals (anything from being
happy to finish my todo list by the end of the day). I believe that
There are tools for the appropriate places and times. Focus groups are
attitudinal and small group dynamics being what they are can skew
consensus. Perhaps not the best use for some things we do.
Ethnography and other social science approaches towards observing
the user in the environment may be
The company I currently work for provides online services for
restaurants. One of our greatest accomplishments for this company as
a design team is a seating management program that is about to go
into several test restaurants.
When we began the research for this product, we went into all the
I second Todd's observation. There is nothing better than being in
your customer's environment to help you as a designer puts some
context around what they are saying.
I'll share an IDEO story that they like to show to clients to help
them understand why contextual sessions with customers
I'm in a quandary.
I like Dell Ideastorm [1], I like myStarbucksIdea [2] and I like the
approach listening to customers espouse what they like and don't like about
stuff I, and my clients, do.
But, I keep digging up these quotes with monotonous regularity:
a) If I had asked my
All right. I'll bite. But rant first:
Even though I understand exactly what people mean when they say don't
listen to your customers or don't pay attention to what users say, pay
attention to what they do, these things irk the hell out of me. Of course
you should listen to your customers--as you
First of all, I have never seen anything useful come out of a focus
group. Marketing, design, whatever...useless. The only reason to do a
focus group is that your management/client likes them and wants you
to do one.
But on to the actual topic: There's a difference of scale here. Great
new
On Mar 27, 2008, at 11:05 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Your learned opinions are sought.
Don't ask people what they want. Simply ask them what they *think*
they want.
Pause.
Then ask them why.
After that, you're on your own.
--
Andrei Herasimchuk
Principal, Involution Studios
I say skip it all, provide paths for everything, collect heatmaps,
normalize UI ruthlessly.
Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!
To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Unsubscribe
24 matches
Mail list logo
