Liz Sanders believes that design will move to be human centered but the
reality is that the final design is driven more by the needs of the
manufacturer than the user because they are paying the designer not the
user.
The designer must design for the manufacturer, the user, the
designer(themselves), the society and the environment and all have
conflicting requirements. Focusing just on the user doesn't produce
successful products.
Traditionally trained Anthropologists naturally think that the user is
most important but if you examine the design of office systems for
example the needs of the manufacturer then the specifier are most
apparent in the design of products currently in the market. I think if
you read Dilbert you will get a good discussion of this relationship.
The user falls somewhere around last place. I am not saying that this is
good but just the current and likely future reality because design is
driven by commercial realities.
What will change to bring about the collapse of traditional design
disiplines? These have evolved to their current state over thousands of
years. What is new is that people with Liz's background have started
interacting with designers. Rather than just digging up old pots they
are helping design them. It seems more likely that anthropology will
change and evolve along with design disiplines but that neither field
will collapse. The forces that drive industry unfortunately are not
driven by socialist ideals. The only hope may be to educate users but
they continue to select products with poor user consideration even where
they have a choice, sometimes because they are cheaper.
______________________________
R o b C u r e d a l e
Professor, Chair Product Design
College for Creative Studies Detroit
201 East Kirby
Detroit MI 48202-4034
Phone: 313 664 7625
Fax: 313 664 7620
email: [log in to unmask]
http://www.ccscad.edu
______________________________
>>> GK VanPatter <[log in to unmask]> 10/01/04 4:06 PM >>>
Liz Sanders: "I am also excited by the imminent collapse of the
traditional design disciplines. I clearly see this collapse and
realignment coming, but I am afraid that it may be some time before it
is acted upon in the universities.
There is one new path that I am still waiting to see happen. That is the
idea of truly human-centered designing. I don't believe that you can be
truly human-centered until you invite the ultimate "end-user" into the
process of designing with you. So much of what is talked about today
under the name of co-designing or human-centered innovation is still
based on the expert-driven model. Informed ethnography is just not
enough to support human-centered innovation."
|