The Burden is on the Innovator, Not the User

Engineers and scientists working on new products face two very different process development alternatives. This is especially true in the context of developing markets. Timothy Prestero, founder of Design that Matters (D&M), a nonprofit design consultancy for social enterprise, describes the two processes in Innovations (Winter 2010 - - Better by Design: How Empathy Can Lead to More Successful Technologies and Services for the Poor).

The two approaches can be categorized as the Invention Approach (Specify the Technology, Develop the Product, Find the User, Market) and the Design Approach (Specify the User, Context & Need, Define the Requirements, Develop the Product). Prestero argues that the design approach is an effective alternative to the invention approach in the developing world. Prestero writes:

The most basic difference is that where invention often leads to a technology is search of a user (or a solution in search of someone who has that problem), design starts with the user and then goes in search of the technology. In design, specifying the user involves conducting direct and indirect research to define who the user is and what they want - - sometimes described as "consumer pull."

Two words are extremely important when discussing the difference between the two approaches - - the first is empathy. Prestero explains the role of empathy as follows:

The first component of empathy is the understanding that there are no "dumb users," only dumb products. For example, my cell phone, which was clearly developed by a bunch of engineers, contains dozens of amazing features that after two years I have yet to figure out. Hearing this, the cell phone engineer might reply that I am merely lazy - - that all of the clever features buried in multiple sub-menus and behind cryptic key combinations would be intuitive if only I would bother to read and memorize the 45-page product manual. In great design, the burden is on the innovator, not the user, to justify every quality and feature of a product.

The second word is context - - do you, as a designer, have an understanding of the setting, meaning, and world of your design? Prestero writes the following:

The second component of empathy in design is the appreciation of context. Again, an engineer might complain when a user shorts out his cell phone in the rain, arguing that the device was only intended to use in dry weather (however, absurd that claim). The qualities that define a product or service become either virtues or liabilities as a function of context. Many products are developed with embedded cultural assumptions that prove to be crippling liabilities in the context of a developing country. Examples include general assumptions about the availability of spare parts and trained maintenance, or very specific assumptions about a user's familiarity with the standard iconography of consumer electronics.