Using ‘What If’ Cards to help design for context
If you’ve ever worked anywhere that is attempting to introduce a user-centred perspective into its culture, then you’ll know that it can be an uphill struggle at times. One of the most common obstacles I’ve come across is the often unintended bias that comes with believing that your users are like you. It’s a classic pitfall, so common it’s almost a cliche, but its persistence is unwavering, and it’s a constant challenge to remind people that they are not their users.
Recently I’ve started using ‘What if’ cards (in lieu of a more catchy name) in workshops and design sessions to try and tackle this stumbling block. These are a series of playing-card-sized bits of paper, each describing a different scenario or context in which the user might be interacting with our product. I’ve found these are a great way to get stakeholders outside of their own pre-conceived ideas and into the shoes of our users.
For instance, a card might describe a sluggish mobile data connection or an incident which involves the user having to break focus from the task they’re trying to complete. Often we spend time solely focused on the world of our own product and it’s important to remind ourselves that, in reality, our users’ world revolves around their own lives, not our product. The cards are a tangible reminder of that, and I’ve found people respond much better to a physical card that they can pick up, wave around and reference; it encourages more real-world conversation and tangents which lead to a more robust fleshing out of the problem or solution we’re tackling.
This contextual approach is explored from a different perspective in Eric Meyers and Sara Wachter-Boettcher’s book Designing for Real Life. It’s a fantastic read, and should be part of any UX designer’s bookshelf. In it, they suggest that thinking about the concept of ‘stress-first’ should be as commonplace as mobile-first. As they argue, stress cases and ‘contextual crisis’ can exist even in products or services you wouldn’t normally associate with stress.
As UX designers we talk a lot about the concept of delight but actually, should we not spend more time thinking about avoiding frustration? After all, one person’s delight is another person’s frustration reaching boiling point. The ‘What if’ cards help us to consider upfront whether that cool new interaction would actually be delightful or not. Perhaps if I’m a user on a hot and sweaty commuter train I’m less likely to be looking for delight and simply looking to get from A-B in the most satisficing way possible.
