Design should be for people, not for designers
Misconceptions that the designer must dispel, focusing on real users and who wants to find meaning in their work.
Two years ago, I was disheartened by the fact that my work was not popular on Dribbble. I focused on popular designers and tried to imitate them in the hope of recognition, but as you know, it is impossible to become something better by copying others.
It could go on for quite some time, but I was lucky. When the base of our service exceeded 5 thousand people, we began to collect feedback. Having received the results of the survey, I was pleasantly surprised, since most of the users were satisfied with the application. From the comments it was clear that people found the necessary functionality in it.
')
I was surprised, because the design of the BINO CX mobile app was made in a week, and the main ideas came during the 12-hour Moscow-New York flight, when I was without internet, “inspiration” and only one thought in my head :
As it turned out, to create a convenient and useful application, it is not necessary to assemble a mindboard, to have a lot of experience, not to mention education. It is often enough to put yourself in the user's place and to simplify the execution of his main tasks as much as possible.
The application interface was liked by people, but despite this, I would not publish it on Dribbble, since it does not correspond to modern trends. Instead of thinking about a full-fledged redesign that the community would appreciate, I began to consistently work on simplifying the main scenarios. This work does not bring attention to the community, but it gives satisfaction from the fact that in your work there is a meaning and benefit for people.
Despite the fact that I am one designer in the company, many are involved in product design. After talking with the analyst, marketer, recruiter, you can understand a lot about how people use the service, and then, based on this, think through the logic and make visual accents.
Design is not rocket science, but the creation of services for people, which we are also. Very often, designers exalt themselves over users, despite the fact that we have the same basic motives, habits and needs.
***
At the end of 2017, as a freelancer, I participated in a workshop, the purpose of which was to create a mobile service for a wide audience of a large bank. For two days we formed hypotheses and scenarios, and on the morning of the third day presented an application to a focus – group consisting of people of different ages (from 20 to 45 years old), but with one common interest.
Since the design was made the night before, the visual part of the application was far from ideal, and all the functionality was thrown out on one long page, which contradicted the basic design rules. It might seem that people will get confused in such a structure and will not understand the essence of the service, but everything turned out differently.
Participants began to discuss the functionality, think it out, remove the unnecessary and improve the existing one. For all the time we have not heard a single comment about the visual style. People spoke in the language of their needs and tasks that need to be solved (true Jobs-To-Be-Done).
Focus group participants are real people, not characters, and, as it turned out, they understand the essence of design much better than many designers. Real users do not know anything about trends and properly selected indents and fonts. All they need is a functional that makes their lives easier. And designers often forget about it.
Undoubtedly, a good visual style enhances the impression of using the product, but by studying American services that earn millions of dollars without paying much attention to design, you understand that the world is different.
I love good typography, light shadows and animation. I like to see how designers find original solutions to common problems. But over the past year I have developed a mental allergy, which manifests itself every time someone gathers or offers to update the design of what works well, but does not correspond to the invented trends.
The question “How would it work if it were easy?” Is very strong, since the answer to it cannot be found on the Internet. It allows you to dig deeper and create an interface, interacting with which you do not ask the question “How does it work?”, But instead use it intuitively.
Receiving positive feedback from real users is much more pleasant than likes. It motivates and brings meaning to your work. A meaning that many designers cannot find, since having done one job, they move on to the next one, without having the opportunity to hear feedback and remember what design is done for people.
Two years ago, I was disheartened by the fact that my work was not popular on Dribbble. I focused on popular designers and tried to imitate them in the hope of recognition, but as you know, it is impossible to become something better by copying others.
“You can't beat what you copy” - Gary Vaynerchuk
It could go on for quite some time, but I was lucky. When the base of our service exceeded 5 thousand people, we began to collect feedback. Having received the results of the survey, I was pleasantly surprised, since most of the users were satisfied with the application. From the comments it was clear that people found the necessary functionality in it.
')
I was surprised, because the design of the BINO CX mobile app was made in a week, and the main ideas came during the 12-hour Moscow-New York flight, when I was without internet, “inspiration” and only one thought in my head :
“How would it work if it were easy?”
As it turned out, to create a convenient and useful application, it is not necessary to assemble a mindboard, to have a lot of experience, not to mention education. It is often enough to put yourself in the user's place and to simplify the execution of his main tasks as much as possible.
The application interface was liked by people, but despite this, I would not publish it on Dribbble, since it does not correspond to modern trends. Instead of thinking about a full-fledged redesign that the community would appreciate, I began to consistently work on simplifying the main scenarios. This work does not bring attention to the community, but it gives satisfaction from the fact that in your work there is a meaning and benefit for people.
Design for people
Despite the fact that I am one designer in the company, many are involved in product design. After talking with the analyst, marketer, recruiter, you can understand a lot about how people use the service, and then, based on this, think through the logic and make visual accents.
Design is not rocket science, but the creation of services for people, which we are also. Very often, designers exalt themselves over users, despite the fact that we have the same basic motives, habits and needs.
***
At the end of 2017, as a freelancer, I participated in a workshop, the purpose of which was to create a mobile service for a wide audience of a large bank. For two days we formed hypotheses and scenarios, and on the morning of the third day presented an application to a focus – group consisting of people of different ages (from 20 to 45 years old), but with one common interest.
Since the design was made the night before, the visual part of the application was far from ideal, and all the functionality was thrown out on one long page, which contradicted the basic design rules. It might seem that people will get confused in such a structure and will not understand the essence of the service, but everything turned out differently.
Participants began to discuss the functionality, think it out, remove the unnecessary and improve the existing one. For all the time we have not heard a single comment about the visual style. People spoke in the language of their needs and tasks that need to be solved (true Jobs-To-Be-Done).
Focus group participants are real people, not characters, and, as it turned out, they understand the essence of design much better than many designers. Real users do not know anything about trends and properly selected indents and fonts. All they need is a functional that makes their lives easier. And designers often forget about it.
Undoubtedly, a good visual style enhances the impression of using the product, but by studying American services that earn millions of dollars without paying much attention to design, you understand that the world is different.
I love good typography, light shadows and animation. I like to see how designers find original solutions to common problems. But over the past year I have developed a mental allergy, which manifests itself every time someone gathers or offers to update the design of what works well, but does not correspond to the invented trends.
The question “How would it work if it were easy?” Is very strong, since the answer to it cannot be found on the Internet. It allows you to dig deeper and create an interface, interacting with which you do not ask the question “How does it work?”, But instead use it intuitively.
Receiving positive feedback from real users is much more pleasant than likes. It motivates and brings meaning to your work. A meaning that many designers cannot find, since having done one job, they move on to the next one, without having the opportunity to hear feedback and remember what design is done for people.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/349746/
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