If You Build It, They Won’t Necessarily Come

“If you build it, they will come.”

A version of this quote is from the 1989 movie Field of Dreams, and is in actuality he not they: “If you build it, he will come.” A common error.

A parallel can be drawn between the inaccuracy of this quote in our modern-day pop culture, to the error in understanding of how a website is formed. A website is not simply built based on creative design visuals, that will attract visitors in droves to the site. Instead it is built on a wealth of field research and knowledge, with one of the first steps being conducting user interviews.

“… if you understand how people think and behave, the design will follow.” - Kim Goodwin, Designing for the Digital Age: Creating Human Centered Products & Services

The majority of this week’s class activities was spent conducting user interviews, so that we could better understand how individuals manage their daily tasks and reminders. We then took this information, analyzed it and made recommendations based on the data. The data then was used in the creation of personas. The process continues on from there, past the horizon, as the design is never truly complete, with future iterations of improvements and so forth.

It is important to note that good research and groundwork (much like building a baseball field), is needed to make sure your designing a site with a “foundation made of bedrock…” rather than one “…made of sand.” (Goodwin, 153).

So that quote may apply after all, just with a few iterations for improvement’s sake.

If you build it, with research in mind, with a good understanding of goals, major tasks, mental models, opportunities and the like, he will come, she will come, they all will come. Now on to researching how we can make them stay.