Friday, June 24, 2011

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.

No comments:

Post a Comment