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 customers what they wanted, they would have said, 'a faster horse" - Henry Ford b) "We don't ask consumers what they want. They don't know. Instead we apply our brain power to what they need, and will want, and make sure we're there, ready" - Akio Morita, founder of Sony c) "It sounds logical to ask customers what they want and then give it to them. But they rarely wind up getting what they really want that way" - Steve Jobs d) "It's really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them" - Steve Jobs (again) 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 seek out new methods? Some have suggested trawling user communities, eavesdropping on online dialogue to perform a gap analysis . but is the next iPod or Flickr going to come out of a conversation on a Facebook wall. It just seems so vague. Of course, myStarbucksidea (flawed as it is from an Ix point of view) is an attempt to localise the dialogue but will the ultimate output of this just be a 'faster horse'? For us in the IxD arena when we're trying to create something unique and something innovative we press ahead with the development of prototypes and visuals that may reflect an interface and design that doesn't reflect where our users are today and, because they've not seen the insight we might have done, simply don't get why they'd need it. A case in point: a piece of work I've been involved with presented the idea that banking customers could tag transactions in their account - customers didn't get it: "why would I do that" . but we know from Mint [3], Wesabe [4] and others that people do use this feature. The problem being that the client has heard too many users in testing being dismissive about the idea and therefore increasingly thinks it's a waste of time. Granted, we could have fleshed out the prototype with 'why would I do this' type content and is this the failing here or simply that users don't always know best? Your learned opinions are sought. John. [1] http://www.dellideastorm.com/ [2] http://www.mystarbucksidea.com <http://www.mystarbucksidea.com/> [3] http://www.mint.com <http://www.mint.com/> [4] http://www.wesabe.com <http://www.wesabe.com/> ________________________________________________________________ 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
