On Jan 26, 2008, at 5:49 AM, dave malouf wrote: snip > What I find so interesting so far is the USer centricism in the > conversation. snip
snip > > Since when do designers do what John Q says. We are strategic problem > solvers who look for the latent problems that John Q can't > articulate. If we just made what John Q wanted, we would all have > Homer-mobiles (and since you are all so acquainted with John Q, I > shouldn't have to explain what a Homer-mobile is.) snip There is an aspect to these UCD conversations that has thus far been missing. UCD - or the mentions of the design process being user centric are only worth wile if they reduce ill-informed design. This is design that occurs in the absence of previous domain knowledge or without conducting user research. All too often design happens without real understanding of the context of use. That understanding can only be gain if the designer has access to research or is immersed in the usage context. Without this user empathy one of two things are likely to occur. First, the designers uninformed vision becomes a reality. Second, technology or monetization influences the final deliverable. In both cases product will likely fail. Less than 10% of all products launched actually succeed in the marketplace. How many resources are wasted in the launch of those bad products? Can designers contribute to sustainability efforts? You bet, stop designing crappy products destined to fail in the marketplace. We can and should be designing better. The hardest part of this UDC process is interpreting and applying the research. The user and the research should NEVER make design decisions. Those decisions have to be made by the informed designer. But all of this still falls short of an ideal process. Here is the kicker. The designer has to play the role of visionary. The designer needs to anticipate the future. And, the informed design has a much better chance to accomplish this. Rarely do customers anticipate what they will need next. That is our job and this is were the great designers shine. They answer the questions that are about to be asked. They solve the problems that have almost surfaced. And, they create demand by providing value and an outstanding, often unanticipated user experience. This is the criteria we should use to call a designer 'genius' - not their process. Mark ________________________________________________________________ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
