Discuss The Fable of the User-Centred Designer

Awesome ebook. I love that it's:

a) Short - I read it in 20 minutes
b) Easy to read - the story is compelling and entertaining
c) Covering really important points that are at the core of user centred design

I don't know why this format works so well for me but I was able to learn so many new things. There were concepts I understood to a certain degree but the story format and the way you presented this stuff helped clarify exactly what was meant. The question / answer format of the main character really helps to present common real-world questions that clients / companies have.

Thanks!

I loved it and stayed up late last night reading the delightful fable. The moral of the story of the user-centered designer - pass it on - is quite evident in the way you do business. It is a rare and exceptional privilege to be the recipient of such expertise and knowledge. I will definitely honor you by passing along the principles (as well as the attitude) to those that come behind me. Thank you so very much!

Thanks so much for taking the essential concepts of user-centred design and brilliantly weaving them into a highly readable story.

With humans being intrinsically wired to respond to stories and storytelling (re-affirmed in Susan Weinschenk's book Neuro Web Design), this was a stroke of genius in terms of effectively communicating these concepts to others.

This was a nice, clear read: you capture well the founding principles of usability. Of course calling someone who can do these things a designer is a bit misleading. The work you describe here represents some of the analytical parts of a design activity, and the inclusion of these pieces can improve the likelihood of meeting human needs. But it's not a comprehensive view of design and may therefore be unappealing to those from a design tradition. Perhaps that's not your audience.

I really enjoyed this fable. Makes me wanna read Lafontaine French fables again. Thanks for sharing. I find this story is of great help for people having to determine the personas of their interactive projects.

I love this quote :

"The young man said, "So companies don’t do the research because people in the organisation simply assume that they know what’s best for customers?'
'That’s been my experience,' agreed the designer. 'And when they do research, it’s often not the kind of research that’s needed to create better designs. The research often focuses on uncovering demographic factors rather than truly understanding people’s goals and motivations.'"

And this one :

"It’s true that design teams will come up with multiple designs for a system. But then the decision on which one to develop tends to be swayed by the HIPPO."

Actually, we have not to forget that down the line, the HIPPO is still the one who often calls the shots. I'm all for user-centered philosophy, and I truly believe in using iterative process and measures that lead to better interactive designs, but what if my boss don't give a damn about all the fuss?

A fourth secret to your Fable could be : "Make sure the Hippo trusts your judgment and does not interfere in the design process". The HIPPO has to be your ally. User-centered design is highly political.

Let me begin by congratulating you for writing the wonderful 'The fable of user-centered designer' and then for making this free to distribute.

It is a simple yet effective fable and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Hope I will be able to see more of it put in practice.

I am a software engineer who has over the last 10 years grown into an experience designer. I love to give users an interface that simplifies what they do. Specially the 'wow!' they utter when they see the same task they have been doing done differently (which I think is mostly useful as well) is what motivates me.

After reading the book, I agreed with all that was written. In my experience I generally have problems coming up with alternate designs of the same problems. Looking at the requirements, I am able to generate the first alternate view of the problem but then I tend to get stuck with that thought and really struggle with presenting more ideas. While I am able to give tweaks within the first view, just another design is where I almost never get.

Any ideas for me?

Dear Dr Travis,
I live in Australia and work in one of the Electrical Utilities as the Engineering Standards Manager.
I came across your book: “The Fable of the User Centred Designer”.
Reading it in a flash, I did not know how to react, i.e. either cry or laugh of excitement.
(I am nearly 50 years old). In you page 11, where you say:
“I’m glad to share my design insights with you”, the designer said. “I will only make one
request of you...I want you to agree to pass these ideas onto other people.”

In my professional life, I experienced similar behavior of people who wanted to keep their
cards close to their chests. There were only few that I know, including me,
that are NOT afraid of sharing and encouraging others to pass on my/their knowledge.
I see this in more emphasis in Australia where people are keeping theirs under lock and barrier.

I am more than happy to share and promote sharing, this in a way makes me like the
“special designer”.
I just wanted to share my excitement with you.

My message to my engineering team is to design and write in their audience's Lingo.
We in the Standards Group set the Standards. We talk and write to many types of audiences,
and have to be certain that what the audience had understood and assimilated,
is what we wanted them to understand and assimilate.

We write and compose technical specifications.
We in the electricity distribution industry know how to plan and build electricity distribution systems;
we do not know how to convey our specifications of what is needed for such systems,
in the lingo that manufacturers, on the other side of the fence will understand,
as they speak different lingo.
I have identified this gap, and working ON BOTH SIDES to close it.
Very challenging and interesting.

Thank you,
S. Samuel
Australia

Thank you for sharing this - I came upon it via an exploration of UX and User Centered Design that began a few months ago and really gathered steam during the recent SXSW conference.

I will be sharing the fable with my entire product group here - really appreciate it!