Design Bits #5

You are not your user

(I’ve missed y’all. I haven’t written here in ages, or on my personal blog. Life has happened - just as I’m sure it has for you. I really can’t promise I’ll send this out every week or every month. But you’ll hear from me a few times this year).

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, here’s what I’ve been looking at recently:

#1: You are NOT your user

A friend had asked me to send her a few resources on design thinking, and I was looking over my archives for some of my cornerstone resources. (I have a massive library from my work over the years). This is an oldie but goodie from about 3 years ago. It’s a fun 7 minute video from David Travis, founder of UserFocus.

We hear time and again how important it is to talk to potential and current users, and how not to make assumptions about what will work and not work. Yet even experienced designers can brush off a new product based on their own experiences. You’ll hear David talk about a product he was *sure* wouldn’t succeed, but went on to gross 6 million pounds at a telecoms company in a few months.

In my own work, I have been absolutely sure one of our ecommerce products was better than another, and yet I find that a merchant has a more suitable product for their goals and needs now. Not something they might need in 2 years, or something that is super robust. It meets their needs now. It’s quite humbling for me. I have the battle scars to prove it :)

As designers, it is a good reminder that there are very few things more important than talking to your users and watching them use product. You can probably count them on one hand. Watch the 7 min video and have a good laugh.

#2: Using AI tools like ChatGPT in service design

I know, I know - we are all TIRED of hearing about ChatGPT by now. I feel like every other post on LinkedIn is talking about it. As with any product, there is the hype, there are the haters, and then the actual product lies somewhere in between.

I have tested it out myself for content, but I find that personally it leaves something to be desired. I can see how it can help with the base for an outline or an article, though. Useful stuff.

Can AI be useful for designers? Does it add to, or take away from, human-centered design - when parts of the process are outsourced to a machine?

That’s what was discussed at this recent webinar from the Service Design Network. They talked through:

using AI for research, generating ideas, drafting service blueprints, and creating personas and prototypes.

Honestly, I’m pretty skeptical about creating personas and prototypes using AI. I think there are some parts of the design process that are too precious to be fully handed over to software. Maybe they can be used as a starter, but even then, we lose the collective thought process that goes with those two areas.

Not to mention, AI isn’t necessarily trained on diverse voices and opinions. I’d rather not have it design personas from a random tech bro’s perspective.

(I’ve enjoyed writing this again. I can’t guarantee I’ll do it on a regular interval - but I will certainly be writing more this year.)

Liked it? Subscribe if you haven’t. Let me know what you’d like me to write about next. I’ve got some ideas for design tools and books soon!