Note: I am a young Designer. This blog doesn't come from a place of extensive experience but just an inner-monologue. This is an opinion piece ;)
The word 'Design' means "the process of envisioning and planning to create something". From interactive systems, objects and buildings to a small hook on the wall to hang up your clothes. Most of the planning is usually aimed at solving a problem. This becomes a profitable trade when you solve problems for people and they pay you for your service.
This pyramid has gotten taller over the years. Organisations or companies hire people who are good at problem solving and create solutions which can be sold to the public. As more and more people enter this trade of being designers, the approach has shifted from a problem solving mindset to creating standardized methods to increase efficiency and make the process easier and approachable.
But in our pursuit of efficiency and standardization, we often overlook the diversity and nuances of individuals and their cultural contexts.
Human beings can be... weird. A group identity greater than an individual identity. There are so many countries, each with their own cultures, and traditions that shape their perspectives and expectations. But design now often relies on a standardized set of values and assumptions that may not fully resonate with every user.
Design Standards
By overestimating what a "normal" user cares about, we risk disregarding important aspects that are meaningful to specific user groups. The age of internet may seem mature, but still a significant world population is just entering the digital age. Even in western countries, which are much more digitally mature than rest of the world, the older population struggles to fit in efficiently. Well old people are old, maybe they are reluctant to accept change. But I have personally seen a lot of "non-techy" people between 25-45 struggle to interact with new apps.
This idea of Design Standards is intentional and unintentional. A significant amount is shoved down new users throats, expecting them to learn and adapt over time but also sometimes its a consequence of a limited budget. A company which has a limited budget may not want to spend extra money to personalise it for each individual across different background. The path then is just to revisit what is standard.
User-Designer Disparity
If you have ever seen New users from a different country interact with any popular app, you realise how many "well designed" things are overlooked. They miss a lot of interactions and features. Their expectations seem very different. This raises the question: why is there a disparity between what designers consider important and what users actually find valuable?
While established design conventions may work for experienced users, they may not be intuitive or helpful for new or diverse user groups.
"Don't Reinvent the Wheel"
In technical fields, it is often advised not to waste time reinventing solutions that already work well. However, in the realm of design, where human-centred planning is the focus, we need to question whether the current standards adequately cater to the needs of new users.
Simply relying on people to learn complex interactions over time diminishes the value of good UX design. Perhaps it's time to re-evaluate our approach.
Frankenstein Designs
As a new designer, I often find myself piecing together elements from various sources, resulting in a Frankenstein-like design that may match the existing aesthetic standard but fail to meet user needs. To truly plan well for people, we must shift our focus from blindly following established norms to genuinely understanding our users and their diverse requirements. By embracing a more user-centric approach, we can design solutions that resonate with authenticity.
User-Centric this and that
There is a growing consensus that user-centered design is the best way to create products and services that people will love. However, many designers still fall into the trap of following a one-size-fits-all approach. This means that they create designs that are based on their own assumptions about what users want and need, rather than actually understanding the needs of their target audience.
When young designers practice design, they often redesign popular apps. They look at existing case studies from popular Western companies as a reference. This is because there is a set standard for what design is supposed to be, rather than it being a truly organic organism that lives off context. As a result, we miss out on "new users."
What New Users?
Designing a new social media, we cater to people who are already familiar with other social media platforms. When social media came to a country like India, which became Facebook's biggest userbase with around 500 million users, people adapted to the app, rather than the app adapting to the people. Just providing translated language should be the standard for regional optimization.
But even beyond apps, take language as an example. Keyboards work great with a simple language like English, but are very chaotic with languages like Hindi.
It doesn't matter
Design has become a bubble. In this bubble, what you and I are doing is... okay. But I just want it to be more. Design should truly be more than what it is. Aesthetics shouldn't be the point of design. Aesthetics should be part of the utility. Design should be a way to approach a problem and not just a template created by artificial industry standards.
