Changes and new challenges in design: 6 lessons from MCE Conference 2018 in Warsaw, Poland // Part 2
READ // Part 1: Redefining the designer’s role
Lesson 3 / Think about interface as a conversation
Words are never neutral. The way we use them helps us to defend our design decision, but also a proper choice of words shapes our products. In “How to design words for digital products”, Ryan Cordell, a UX writer from Deliveroo, explained that content is also an experience. The same as scripts set the tone for a movie, the words set the tone for our products and services.
Sketching the real content changes the actual design. With lorem ipsum and placeholders in a prototype, you won’t test the real experience and the feedback won’t be accurate. When you “script out” an interaction, you start to think about how to set a tone, which functionalities to apply, which words should be replaced to make it sound more natural, less formal, more understandable. Think about your interfaces as a conversation, try to translate a screen interaction into a one-on-one conversation.
Lesson 4 / Words impact the business, do not overlook them!
Natalie Moser, (quoted in part 1), provided an example in her talk “When UX takes a day trip to Paris”, of how wording can cause a big problem for a whole business. The biggest issue for the Eurostar was people missing their trains.
The first assumption after the research was that many British people see no difference between an international and a regular train. They are late because they don’t expect a security check-in with a massive queue. It was difficult for tested users to explain the reason why they didn’t come earlier. Eurostar designers started the customer journey tracking: joining up digital and offline touchpoints, they looked carefully at every piece of information placed on the website, mobile application, tickets and at the station.
After the investigation, the issue was found. The passengers received information about check-in closing 30 minutes before departure. They misinterpreted the word “check-in”. Most of them would purchase and receive their tickets online and in their opinion the check-in was already done and there was no need to hurry. Another thing was that arriving 30 minutes and 2 seconds before departure still made them miss the train. The time indicated was for the moment of the closing of the gates, not the beginning of the check-in. The sense of the message was misunderstood because of unclear wording. The information was changed to “please arrive between 45–60 minutes before departure” and it was put in highly visited areas, and on train tickets. It was a small change with a big impact for Eurostar business.
The example provided by Natalie shows that even small words are critical when designing services and digital products. Easily overlooked, they can jeopardise the whole experience. We can’t think about usability without words. If you find it difficult to work with words, collaborate hand in hand with a communication specialist or UX writer to embed writing in your design process as soon as possible.
Lesson 5 / Become a gatekeeper and deal with emerging technologies
VR, AR, AI or blockchains… fashionable terms, interesting topics that can awaken our imagination. We may feel intimidated by them, all of them sound very technical. Still, we can’t forget that technology is just a way to go, as designers we should think about broad experiences, as Austin Beer (lead designer from Elephant) convinced us.
We should keep the same approach as during the regular design process. When we think about AI, feasibility is a very important thing, but it’s the same while designing for other technologies. When we think about AI, images of powerful robots, so intelligent, that scary home suppliers come to our minds. The truth is, “AI is a set of approaches that look for relationships and patterns in data.” Nothing less, nothing more. As designers, we scope the future experience thinking about user’s needs, we determine the system learning model (the way data would be collected) and we identify data types and sources.
Designers should be present while designing for AI, with the role of a gatekeeper. It’s our responsibility to create products that are good for users. We guide decisions and ensure that everything will be done with a human centric approach, and no scary futuristic vision will be achieved. We should design for a future we want to have with objects and systems we are comfortable with.
“Not all robots are here to take our jobs. Some of them just help us be more than humanly possible”
Pete Trainor (Co-Founder and Director of Human Focused Technology
Us Ai), Keynote “Don’t do things better, do better things”
Lesson 6 / Design for trust and shaping the future
While large amounts of new data is being created every second, our role is to become a translator, a storyteller. It is up to us designers to explain to users how their private data is used. Why? When? What? How can I control it? What will the consequences be? Users have many questions. Transparency is the key to gain trust, but what does designing for trust actually mean? While using Fitbit, for example, it’s important for users that they understand what the implications and concerns are concerning their data, how the bracelet works, how it connects with the cloud, and what content is sharing etc.
The designer’s role is to make data and processes accessible and transparent for everybody, said Kathryn Parkes, talking about “Democratizing Data”. Thanks to Big Data, we have achieved many good things… we’re helping to change our world in a number of ways, for example by improving healthcare — we can spot disease earlier and develop new medicines. But still, we have many concerns about the use of our personal data… it’s all about our privacy and security. It’s good to raise awareness, to make people understand what happens with their data, to make them control it in a more conscious way. Being transparent and fair will prevent us from a dystopian future. As designers, we play a big role in shaping a better future.
As a conclusion
The MCE Conference shows us once again that design is a fascinating domain that is still evolving. It forces it’s practitioners to prepare themselves for continuous challenges, to shape and polish new skills. Yes, the role of the designer is changing and will keep changing, but it will not disappear.
Our way of thinking and the human approach we always defend will always be important. We guide decisions and ensure we create products that are good for its users. It’s our responsibility. We’re gatekeepers, as Tom Greever says, “We don’t want people to fall in love with our design. We want them to fall in love with the logic and thinking behind our design”.
The videos of all the talks are coming soon, so stay tuned for updates!
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About MCE
MCE 2018 took place on June 5–6 in the Palace of Culture and Science, connecting tech creators, designers, developers and managers from all around the world. It is the largest Central and Eastern European tech conference, held in Warsaw for the last five years. It is organized by a team of engineers and designers and has always been rooted in the Polish tech community, who believed that Warsaw deserves to be on the technological map of world conferences. At the beginning, it was strongly focused on engineering, yet three years ago, MCE opened its program for designers, creating an agenda filled with inspiring themes and concrete talks for UX, UI and Service Designers.
WedigitalGarden had the pleasure to help the main organizers to enrich the design track as a part of the program committee. We couldn’t’ miss this event!
