Design What You Know They Want

Clay Shirky brought the ideas of arrogance and humility in design up a few weeks ago. In his article for A Brief Message he states:

Arrogance without humility is a recipe for high-concept irrelevance; humility without arrogance guarantees unending mediocrity.

The idea of arrogance in design is a very interesting one. Arrogance is saying you know what someone else wants in a design. And the idea of designing for what you think your audience wants, as opposed to designing for what they think they want, often times leads to great designs.

Take the example Malcom Gladwell uses in his book Blink. When the Aeron chair was first tested, almost none of the people that tried it out thought they wanted it. But Herman Miller had spent so much time, money, and effort developing this ergonomic design, they decided they knew what was best, and continue production of the chair. Years later, the chair has become a cult object of sorts, not just based on it’s comfort, but it’s design even. It has gone on to win design awards and a spot in the Museum of Modern Art.

How about when Apple released the iMacs with no floppy drives? Despite the initial backlash of critics, look where floppy drives are now. Who wants one in their computer? It just seems like a waste of space at this point. But there again is a company decided they know what’s best, they know what you want, and they’re going to push beyond what you think you want.

And what happens when you listen to what people say they want? This is what Steven Frank of Panic Software has to say:

People don’t want FEATURES. They’ll tell you they do until they’re blue in the face. But what they actually want is ease-of-use, and solutions to real-world problems.

Companies listen to those blue in the face customers all the time though, in an attempt to appeal to what their customers say they want. What you end up with is something like Norton Suite. Once the best in the market in Antivirus protection, it’s now bloated with features to the point where it’s almost worthless. And as sad as it is to say, it seems Firefox is doomed to the same fate. They listened to what people say they want, added more and more features, and ended up with a browser that crashes more and more. And I can tell you now, no one actually wants that.

So should we design and create blindly? No. But I think it’s worth thinking about the difference between what people say they want and what they actually want. Sometimes your customers aren’t going to know what they want. That’s why they’re coming to you.