Re:Why Design Thinking Works
by atoav on Monday December 17, 2018 @04:21AM
(#18697814)
I am a designer (and a programmer), and yes: a lot of what (good) designers do is plain old thinking, but it is a certain kind of thinking.
It is a question of focus. A designer will be all about the users, their experience etc. If they manage to make manufacturing/servicing/etc better at the same time – great! But in doubt they will go with the user.
A sysadmin would be focused on what is easy to maintain and won't create more work down the road.
A lazy person would try to find a solution, that movers the workload to a different entity altogether.
A engineer would mostly be concerned about reusing things that already exist in a clever way, with a aesthetically low standard: "Why are you complaining? It looks just like the thing company X made". It might be more durable, cheaper and a tiny bit more inconvinient to use.
A business person is mostely focused on how much it costs and how much potential sales there are.
A marketing person is mostly focused on the emotional visual part (see bad designer) and if they are good they will figure out what it is the customers like about the product (and if they are bad they make it pink for ladies and metallic with racing stripes for blokes).
All of these "thinking hats" have a reason to exist, but only one is really focused on the details of how the customer will interact with the thing you sell them in a day to day basis. Good designers on top of that will try to take the thing in a historical context: just because it is the way it is right now, doesn't mean it is the way it should (or could) be. The iPhone is a good example.
It is a question of focus. A designer will be all about the users, their experience etc. If they manage to make manufacturing/servicing/etc better at the same time – great! But in doubt they will go with the user.
A sysadmin would be focused on what is easy to maintain and won't create more work down the road.
A lazy person would try to find a solution, that movers the workload to a different entity altogether.
A engineer would mostly be concerned about reusing things that already exist in a clever way, with a aesthetically low standard: "Why are you complaining? It looks just like the thing company X made". It might be more durable, cheaper and a tiny bit more inconvinient to use.
A business person is mostely focused on how much it costs and how much potential sales there are.
A marketing person is mostly focused on the emotional visual part (see bad designer) and if they are good they will figure out what it is the customers like about the product (and if they are bad they make it pink for ladies and metallic with racing stripes for blokes).
All of these "thinking hats" have a reason to exist, but only one is really focused on the details of how the customer will interact with the thing you sell them in a day to day basis. Good designers on top of that will try to take the thing in a historical context: just because it is the way it is right now, doesn't mean it is the way it should (or could) be. The iPhone is a good example.