Design Is Really About Caring for the Person Using What You Create

By Susie A. Taylor | Story Strategist | Susie Taylor Marketing | Join the World Referral Network for FREE!

We have all encountered the website that makes a simple task strangely difficult. The menu we can barely read. The sign that appears only after we have already taken the wrong turn. The package that seems determined not to open.

Then there are experiences where everything simply works.

What makes the difference?

Often, it is not beauty. It is consideration.

Good design is about more than how something looks. A website can be elegant and still leave visitors wondering where to click. A beautiful room can be uncomfortable. Instructions can look polished while failing to explain what someone actually needs to do.

Design becomes useful when we consider the experience from the other person's side.

That requires empathy because creators have an unavoidable disadvantage: we already know how everything works.

The person encountering what we created does not.

So thoughtful design asks different questions. What might confuse this person? What will they need at this moment? Where could frustration appear? What could I make simpler?

The answers often show up in small details.

Readable type. Clear instructions. An entrance everyone can use. Captions on a video. Information sent before someone needs it. A chair positioned where a tired person might appreciate a moment to sit.

None of these details need to call attention to themselves.

They quietly communicate something more important:

Someone thought about me.

Before creating something another person will use, ask:

Who is this for?
What are they trying to do?
What might frustrate them?
How can I make the experience simpler?

You do not have to call yourself a designer to practice good design. Every form, meeting, room, message, website, event, process, or product creates an experience for someone else.

Good design may simply be what happens when someone cares enough to imagine the experience from the other person's side.

#GoodDesign #Empathy #HumanCenteredDesign #ThoughtfulLeadership #Clarity #UserExperience #Consideration