Q&As
of a problem. Nothing is more irritating
than someone more fascinated with
the technology they are using to solve a
problem than the problem itself.
Not long ago someone was pitching me
an idea to track real-world advertising
hļhfwlyhqhvv1#Wkh|#zrxog#wudfn#d#
phone’s location and know when it
was in proximity of a billboard or
other advertisement and then assume
(key word: assume) the phone’s owner
had seen the ad. They went on and on
about GPS accuracy, data science and
algorithms. When I asked: ‘Who is this
for? What problem does it solve?’, they
said: ‘I’m not sure yet but some big
advertising company will want it’.
Not being able to clearly articulate how
wklv#whfkqrorj|#vroyhv#d#vshflĽf#sureohp#
iru#d#vshflĽf#jurxs#ri#shrsoh#lv#olnh#d#
hammer looking for a nail. These people
sometimes get lucky. But, looking at
the history of successful companies, the
people who set out to solve a problem
have a much better track record.
Emotional design
THE FUTURE OF TECH
Are you optimistic or pessimistic about
the role of technology in our lives in the
2020s and beyond? How can web designers
significantly influence this direction?
Harley Manning, Cardiff, UK
PP: Right now, we’re seeing what
happens when design hasn’t fully
considered emotion. Some of our most
problematic experiences lack emotional
intelligence, from unsatisfying
interactions with chatbots to apps that
congratulate when they should console.
Other experiences have been (maybe
inadvertently) designed for negative
emotion by optimising for engagement.
Now we see Twitter and Instagram
experimenting with ways to mitigate
that by removing likes.
My prediction is that in the next two
years, we are going to see a growing
awareness of the emotional dimensions
of experience. Partly because we’ll begin
to appreciate the negative dynamic
embedded into product design but also
ehfdxvh#hprwlrqdo#duwlĽfldo#lqwhooljhqfh#- and maybe mixed reality (XR) too
- will nudge us to pay attention to
emotion. Of course, that technology has
a lot of shortcomings and we’ll have to
decide how it could help or harm.
Emotional design
MORE FROM EMOJIS
How can emojis be made to work better?
Teresa Kennedy, London, UK
SS=#Hprmlv#dqg#uhdfwlrq#JLIv#fdq#Ľoo#lq#
gestures and expression missing from
online communication. That’s a positive.
The downside is that emojis can seem
overly reductive or automatic in how we
use them. Emotions online take on their
own shape, often exaggerating trivial
moments and minimising big feelings.
Emojis are a part of that cultural shift.How can I estimate
the best UX-writer-to-
product-designer ratio on
a product design team?
Jagoda Patel, Mumbai, India
TP: There’s no single ratio that will
be perfect for applying to every team,
every product or every situation. If I
needed to estimate and staff to a ratio
for a particular product team, I’d start
with what needs to be done and what
resources exist.1 Interface
To design an
interface, I’ll need
both graphic design
skills and content
skills. This tells me I
need those talents
but doesn’t give me the ratio.2 Graphic design system
If there is no
existing graphic
design system
(colour, layout,
typography) or if the
current system has
to be adapted to meet the new needs, I’ll
require more of my designers to have
graphic design skills.3 Content strategy
If there is no
content strategy (in
terms of things like
voice, terminology
or information
architecture) or if
the new products cover different or new
ideas and purposes, I’ll need more of my
designers to have content skills.Shortform video sharing site TikTok playfully encourages creativity by young people around the world
Images courtesy of:- Interface by Mansion@design from the Noun Project
- Graphic design by ProSymbols from the Noun
Project - Content strategy by Becris from the Noun Project
3 SIMPLE STEPS