Understanding the user who isn't you

Just what I always wanted?

What people buy isn't necessarily what they use. Research in 2005 by the insurance company ‘esure’ found that UK homes have millions of pounds worth of unused gadgets:

• 21.5 million own, but don’t use, a sandwich maker
• and 14.3 million own, but don’t use, a coffee maker
• while 10.5 million, similarly own, but don’t use, a foot spa.

Of course many of these items are gifts, but the trend reflects the difficulty people have introspecting about their real needs, and the opportunities for the design of products that are appealing on the shop shelves and really do integrate into peoples lives.

So here are some big claims: user-centred design has the potential to make people happier (your birthday present is something you wanted and will use) and to reduce the number of products that, unwanted, end up as landfill.

On reading manuals (not)

A successful business has grown up out of people’s typical response to user manuals, i.e. not to read them. Talk Me Through It (or TMTI) is a specialist call centre which handles customer support for several UK mobile phone operators, as well as other suppliers of electronic appliances.

Good helpline support can keep customers loyal to a product or service. But some situations demand a product that is usable and foolproof the first time it is used, and without any customer support. The Philips Heartstart defibrillator is designed for use by a non-expert in the intensely stressful situation where a family member or colleague may have had a heart attack. In case this sounds more hazard then help, be assured it includes a diagnostic procedure before defibrillation to ensure treatment is applied safely.

Click here for more about TMTI

Click here for more about the Philips Heartstart defibrillator

My background

After studying cognitive psychology, first at Sussex and then at Cambridge, I became interested in designing to respond to people’s needs and I took up a postdoctoral fellowship in the Typography and Graphic Communication Department at Reading University.

During the 1990s I set up and led the human factors team in the London office of the international design consultancy, IDEO, developing their user-focused design methods.

I have been working independently since 2000 and this has brought opportunities to expand my work beyond the traditional remit of a design consultancy. Now I work with organisations to develop user- and customer-focused products and services; and also support their focus on customers through consultancy and training.

See the publications section for information about some of my published work.