Blog homeAlmost Friday….. so time for a bit of levity.
Here are my favourite quotes about design and user feedback:
If I’d asked people what they wanted, they would have asked for a better horse.
Henry Ford
i.e. yes listen to your users and hear that they want improvement - but don’t necessarily do exactly what they ask. Customers are great at pointing out problems - but use your own experience to devise appropriate solutions.
Why isn’t there a mouse flavoured cat food?
Umm…… good question.
i.e. when designing based on your own experience ensure that you are representative of your customers’ needs
So my challenge to you….. if you are going to a meeting today to talk about the design of your website…….. try to incorporate one of these quotes / questions into your discussion. Think of it as a form of “buzzword bingo”.
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“Why isn’t there a mouse flavoured cat food?”
Because it’s the human buying the cat food, not the cat - associating mice with food would put the *buyer* off, and the end user doesn’t know the difference anyway.
Can’t turn that into any sort of design analogy though… over to you Alex!
Ummmm….. Thanks Nathan.
Two areas that come to mind that are similar to your point:
- Personal Assistants buying business travel for their boss. So the buyer isn’t the traveller.
- Luxury travel agents - who tend to sell the “luxury lifestyle” - but are not normally living the luxury lifestyle - hence have a lower appreciation as to what they are promoting
Is it Friday yet?