Designing Hybrids
When a designer learns a new skill set such as programming, or starting a business, they don’t just become two different people with two different skill sets — They transforms into a new hybrid who sees both differently.
I hope I could provide a glimpse of how taking concepts from one field, and applying them to another can help us find previously-unseen insights.
Starting with Design
“The first requirement for an exemplary user experience is to meet the exact needs of the customer, without fuss or bother. Next comes simplicity and elegance that produce products that are a joy to own, a joy to use.” — Jakob Nielsen and Don Norman
The great ideas shared above can be useful only if understood and applied properly, so let’s break them down.
Understanding our users will afford us the luxury of addressing their needs adequately and correctly. We’ve observed that the experience a person goes through while using our product consists of two main concepts:
Utility — This refers to the function of the product and how it relates to the user. Can we understand the needs of the person who is about to use the product? Is the context in which he would use our tool clear to us? What is the user’s expected outcome? We mull over these questions, have them tested so as to inform the next iteration.
The “actual” design (UI) — This is what our users actually interact with. Was it easy for them to use? Are the visuals refined? But more importantly, does it support the utility and the business goals?
Keep in mind, the most beautiful interface can only be considered successful, as long as it supports the required needs of our user.
Looking beyond functionality
Properly identifying the function of your product for the benefit of users and then building the appropriate interface are challenging as it is… but we have to take it several notches higher. The tools have to be amazing — they should feel like magic.
It’s when we truly understand the function, to the point where we start anticipating user behavior, act on it, and ultimately, leave an impact on our users’ lives when they least expect it, that makes us love a product.
“To simplify is huge, but what matters just as much is the end result, what the user gets out of the simplification. If the simplified process produces satisfactory results, great. But it’s magic when the software generates a disproportionately meaningful output from that minimized input.” — Khoi Vinh
… Then to Programming
In an attempt to better articulate these two points, let me take you to a different field that, unexpectedly, also shares the same perspective.
Function — Functions, in computer programming, encapsulate a task (they combine many instructions into a single block of code).
In general, when you turn on the light in your room, you don’t actually care what happens, only that your room was lit — that the function was executed.
Interface — A representation of all the actions available at a given context, with a given object.
When you flip a light switch, the light goes on. It doesn’t matter how; just that it did — which means anything that acts like a light should have a turn-on and a turn-off method. That’s the interface.
… Now back to design
When I got into programming, learning these concepts really helped me refine how I make and (more importantly) communicate my design decisions. People don’t care how I think it should work, or what features we include. Not if it doesn’t first execute a clear function and meets a need.
I’ll try to find time to write about testing, but I feel there’s a lot more we can learn from our developer colleagues about methodically testing our assumptions. For now you could start by reading about TDD.
The concept of using usability tests to drive design can be seen applied beautifully at Google Ventures in Sprints.
It’s really interesting to see how different fields could complement one another, and help refine basic concepts.
Taking from business
Over the past few years, we’re starting to see designers earn their place in Silicon Valley’s most influential VC firms, alongside dozens of new startups with designers as co-founders.
It’s incredible to see designers like Jeff Veen (@veen) and Jake Knapp (@jakek) who, with their teams, apply design principles & methodologies to the design of numerous successful businesses.
Design methodologies like the one behind Google’s sprints, or JTBD as it’s applied at Intercom are two of many examples that shows us how design could inform the development of the business, which in turn creates better design.
Conclusion
It’s exciting to imagine where these hybrid new roles can take our industry in coming years; as technology (mainly, the internet) breaks down barriers to knowledge that was previously siloed.
I’d love to hear what you think! Please hit me up on Twitter.
