I think the problem is that we (I'm a USAian) tend to care less about
our fellow humans and more about whatever specific product we're trying
to sell and the bottom line. I just spent two weeks in Tokyo and I
often felt like someone actually cared about me, even during impersonal
interactions with computers. It's not that Japan has better interaction
designers than us, it's just that someone actually seemed to care about
me as a person when they were putting things together. (footnote: if
you're in Tokyo, go to Toyota Mega Web and check out the Universal
Design museum/showroom.)
Compare my Japan experience to last week here in the states when I was
basically forced to use a self-checkout at a box store because they had
closed all the human-operated registers. The business didn't care about
me on multiple levels, and if they actually hired designers, those
people didn't care much about me either. In the end, not only was the
interaction pretty poorly done leaving me an unhappy customer, but the
box store used it as a way to replace several humans who could have
helped me have a good experience.
On the other hand, I have had the joy(?) of working for a number of
companies where the CEO and exec staff and their families used or relied
upon the product the company produced. Without breaking past NDA, I
can easily say that when the families of the exec staff rely upon the
product, the product is much better than it would have been if we only
had customers.
David Rondeau wrote:
So what can we do right now as members of IxDA?
It's what we can start doing right now as people. We need to start
taking personal responsibility for how our work (design or otherwise)
changes the lives of others.
1. Change our own thinking. Stop designing for customers and users and
start designing for people we care about: our best friends, our parents,
our kids, etc. How differently would you do something if you knew your
kid had to use it every day, or if an elderly relative would have to
rely upon it? Forget your freakin persona for a few minutes and imagine
someone you know similar to that persona using it and calling you to
tell you what they thought about. (And if you don't know anyone like
your persona, how do you know your persona is correct or that your
design is correct for that persona?)
2. Convince our clients to change their thinking as well. As a person
coming from the privacy and security area, I've discovered that my
clients and coworkers often change their opinion about our product when
I make it personal to them instead of about an abstract customer. It's
not a matter of arguing with them, leading by example and showing how
much better a product or experience could be.
--
J. Eric "jet" Townsend -- designer, fabricator, hacker
design: www.allartburns.org; hacking: www.flatline.net; HF: KG6ZVQ
PGP: 0xD0D8C2E8 AC9B 0A23 C61A 1B4A 27C5 F799 A681 3C11 D0D8 C2E8
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