Is your design a reaction or a response?

Reactions are lazy responses.

They're quick, assuming and superficial.

I see products and designs born out of  quick 'research' that seem more like reactions to symptoms than solutions that address needs. It's very crucial to go beyond a 'felt problem' in design..to get the the roots of why and how people behave the way they do in a context. This approach paints a clear picture of the desired experience and helps you work backwards from there.

These experience guidelines can only come from  listening. When designs aim for a certain experience, it becomes less about the features and more about what makes persons using it happy.
Take this solution designed for a retail store in Korea for example. By choosing the right problem, they created a relevant service.


And yet, I do not think that all designs must start from digging for a problem. If we've been curious listeners and observers all our lives, its fun to let the ideas take over. It's rewarding to play.

A dialogue in the dark

I walk out humbled, curious and amazed.

I'm high on colour from the last 75 minutes spent in the absence of light at the experiential exhibit called Dialogue in the Dark. It's a show designed to let visitors experience what blindness is like. Experience what it feels like to live without sight, to walk blind, to smell blind, to eat, enjoy music, spend time in a cafe, shop and live without sight.

This is what I'd call a designed experience. The outcome couldn't have been achieved by reading or hearing about experiences but only by getting a taste of it myself.

In my head there was this constant attempt at constructing what I didn't know. Didn't see, didn't know. Surprisingly we struck a conversation about dreams with our guide Henry. Can you imagine non-visual dreams? Can you begin to comprehend?

I'm mad about any design that tells a story. Or even better, if it lets me be a part of the storytelling.