Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
gram, the better he could identify the frequency and importance of various functions and
uses.
Putting a name and face on a user helps, even if the user is fictional. Once you see
this made-up user, you must identify his or her needs. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs serves
as a good guide. Is your product aimed at the most basic requirements of sustenance and
shelter? Or does it protect the user from some threat or problem? Can this product serve a
family, or some larger social unit? Does it contribute to one's sense of belonging? Can it
contribute to self-esteem, or even self-actualization? The levels in Maslow's model help us
identify a product's place in its users' lives. If we can identify where a product fits into a
user's daily experience, we can better understand the most likely circumstances for its use.
This analysis helps us learn how to adapt the product's design to a wider audience, made up
of individuals who have needs similar to that of our persona. This is how we make the leap
from a singular empathy aimed at a specific user, to a more general empathy that allows us
to design for a crowd.
A helpful and surprising tool for this comes from an unlikely source: the world of
theatre. Nearly a century ago in Russia, actor-director Konstantin Stanislavski created a
new way for actors to perform. Actors know it today as “The Method.” His system attemp-
ted to explore characters, actions and motivations from both sides: inside out and outside
in. He looked at the art of acting the same way. As classical English actor Sir John Gielgud
wrote, Stanislavski taught “how to work with the imagination, to build a performance from
within,” and “how to regard the audience so that one can control their actions at certain
times and allow them to take control at others.”
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Controlling users is a given. Every product and service comes with built-in limitations.
Design choices limit it further. When we first think up a product, we immediately imagine
various features that help it achieve its purpose. If there's an audio component, we think of
speakers or ear buds. With video we consider the screen. Is the appearance pleasing? Are
the buttons the right colors? Does the dashboard make navigation smoother? Like anyone
else, a designer will initially consider these things in selfish terms: How would I do this?
Most first versions of designs will reflect this point of view. The on/off mechanism is the
way the designer would want it for optimum use. The same is true of volume, contrast, mo-
tion controls, and so on. When the design is exactly the way you, the designer, would want
it, it means you're in control. Controlling your user is more difficult. This is where the de-
signer's touch must be firm, yet light. You must look at both user and product, and find the
places where functions and needs coalesce into satisfaction, and ultimately delight.
