People, not users

I’m troubled by how we, as designers, talk about the people who use the products we design as “users” rather than “people”. My unease stems from the alternative (and often pejorative) use of the term “user” and the reduction of a complex person(s) to their decontextualized use a single design.

The term “user” was coined in the late 60s by software designers who were trying to distinguish between the person who would use the software versus the person who would maintain the software. Soon after, the term “user-friendly” emerged to describe software that not only functioned well but was easy to use. “User-friendly” inspired “user-centered design” — a design process inspired by understanding people needs rather than the application for a new technology. And today, with the proliferation of apps and the like, kids learn terms such as “user names,” ‘user accounts,” and “multi-user games” by age 5.

Compare this to my experience (and that of other children of the 80s) of first learning the term “user” as a derogatory term to describe a person who used drugs. The Partnership for a Drug-Free America regularly played their “This is Your Brain on Drugs” campaign in which an egg is expertly cracked into searing hot frying pan. The sizzling of the egg was a metaphor for what happens to your brain when using narcotics. Despite the ridicule (and frustration of the Egg Board of being associated with drugs), the campaign has been credited with a decline in drug use among teenagers.

Regardless of whether user refers to someone who uses software or drugs, the term reduces complex people to their decontextualized use a single thing. When people “use” anything, they do so while in a physical location, while doing other activities and often with other people (real or virtual). They have complex feelings and thoughts that can align/misalign with their use. Their value as a person goes far beyond their “use” of a single thing.

So let’s drop “user” because its over simplistic and misleading. Join me in calling people what they are, “people.”