How to design for the consumer
Everywhere we look we find ourselves gravitating toward certain products on showroom shelves. They're sleek, pleasing to the eye, and when we use them, they seem to work easily, even the first time around. They just feel right. Examples come to mind pretty fast. The iPod would seem to top many people's lists these days. But behind such products is a growing field of academic study: user-centered design. Donald Norman, a Northwestern University professor, recently won the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science for his work on relating how people think to the products we create and use every day. He spoke recently with U.S. News:
So what is user-centered design?
I'm concerned about new technologies that frustrate us more than help us. It's not about the technology; it's about how people can take advantage of this and use it.
Has this always been a problem?
The major problems came about with electronics and computers. With mechanical systems, you could kind of figure it out. With electronics, it's all invisible.
What is the main difficulty in designing good products?
In the head of the designer, they have a really good idea of the thing they're building. But for the person to use it, the person needs to understand. The device itself is the communication medium. Designers don't seem to understand that . . . The other problem is that designers are not the best people to understand their work. The designers need review teams.
You mean focus groups?
Focus groups are no good. You get people telling you what they think you want. People are polite. Much of this behavior is subconscious. People aren't aware of their needs. If you ask them what they need in their cellphones, they won't say what they need but what the last problem was.
What is the ideal way to design a product?
I would start with an idea before the project. I would start with ethnographic studies–going out to ask what the needs are. Then I'd develop the product from this needs requirement and say I know how to overcome that. Then the first thing I would do is write a manual. Can I write a manual? . . . I want to make it so simple that it's just a page or two, or you don't even need to read it. And then I'd give that to the design people.
And that's not how it is done now?
Today, it's the other way around. The poor manual writers have to say this was on purpose. They're unintelligible.
Do you think companies are making the right changes?
I think people are realizing this. There seems to be a real consumer revolt against complexity. Look at Phillips. Their whole theme is simplicity. Companies are understanding it. Good design doesn't cost any more than bad design, especially when you start from the beginning. It always costs more when you do it at the end. Service calls cost companies a lot of money. Finally, if I really love a product I'll tell other people, so you'll get increased sales.
What are some examples of bad design?
Like driving down the road trying to change the radio station at 80 mph. Look how many controls are on the cockpit of your car. Television systems and home theaters require 23 remotes. More companies are interested now, but if you take a look at the TVs and home theaters, you have competing companies, and it's not going to get simpler until they agree with each other.
And the good examples?
Obviously a company like Apple is high. Bose is an excellent example of a company trying to solve this problem. Bang & Olufsen are expensive, but they're very well thought through. Many people would not add this company, but I would, which is Microsoft. And of course Palm. I would say one of the outstanding successes in this is the BMW Mini Cooper. The interior design of that car is quite well done.
What about the iPod success?
The iPod success is really not because of the ease of use of the iPod. The iPod success is because it's a system. Before the iPod, people forget that you couldn't really purchase music. One of the first things Steve Jobs did was to negotiate the sale of music at 99 cents. Second is iTunes, the website and the application to find the music and get it into your iPod. It's relatively effortless. Other companies did it, and it was a million steps. He also solved the digital rights management problem, which made it pretty invisible to the users. And then, finally, there was the iPod. Which is well designed, of course, and . . . has become an advertising symbol . . . . Apple conceived of this as an entire system, not just a cool music player.
So what will make products better?
What makes them more usable is a company that cares—that changes its process and thinks about humans from the very beginning of the process. Most companies think about this at the end. The good news is that more and more companies are understanding this. The bad news is that the number of companies is increasing, and the new ones have to learn . . . . We keep creating new technologies that are done badly. Like watching TV on our phone.