Published on | Prototyping: From UX to Front End — Medium Signe Roswall

So at the place where I work, and have worked for the past 3 months, we just launched a full redesign of the website for our (PRM) platform which aims to solve the partner management pains of our future clients.

Now, just to quickly clarify where I am right now and have been career-wise:

I started out doing webdesign and development in the “bootstrap” era. I eventually upgraded my webdesign with usability principles and user testing, which then turned into Mobile and Interface Design in the “mobile-first” era… Now this thing they call User Experience (“the cognitive design” era) and the next step: Empathic Design.

Design for Humans. Realistic Design.

But I also do a lot of digital and print design in general as well as logos, illustration and branding. Heck, I even still do our PowerPoints so really I consider myself to be mostly –and simply– a Designer. A title which consists with that on my contract.

So when we were implementing the team section on the new website, my CTO put the title Product Designer under my name.

OK–Cool 😅

And just like that I graduated from Designer to Product Designer. And it’s not that I haven’t done Interface Design or Usability before, I’ve even been in on projects on a conceptional and strategic level.

But Product Design as my title on the website, that’s like taking it a step further, right? This is where shit gets real. Product Design.

A term which somehow seems so much like what I’ve already done and already do, and yet so alien.

I remember not long ago I actually saw an article here on Medium about transitioning into product design while thinking; “Product Design oh well, probably not gonna do that… ever…” just as I scrolled past it.

But like so many other times in my very short career I’ve just realised how I’ve actually just adapted and gone with the flow somehow.

So as I’m moving into Product Design I’m beginning to draw some conclusions. Conclusions which run parallel with my current choice of reading material and the slowly rising popularity of Empathic Design.

Conclusions

I’ve always had a “fuck you” kind of attitude towards academical theories in design. Like the overly used Persona — most of which I’ve encountered so far would’ve been more efficient as bathroom reading material (or in other words: back-up toilet paper. You know you were thinking it.)

We sometimes, myself included, create an idea of a reality when in fact the real reality is so much different. Sounds plausible, right?

I’ve realised this isn’t about designing a system which people will be dependent on. I don’t want to create another dumb system which demands their attention around the clock. Cat and baby owners know the struggle.

I’ve realised my mission isn’t about designing a system which people will be dependent on. I don’t want to create another dumb system with demands their attention around the clock. Cat and baby owners know the struggle.

Like the bottom-less pit which are social medias, their endless notifications and e-mails specifically designed to fuel your FOMO. When really social medias are all about this; the larger amount of users and the higher their average time-spent-on-site, the more money they’re worth.

It’s about time we design systems which set people free.

Free from our perception of how they are as the ideal clients or customers, or how they ideally use our systems and interact with our designs. We need to realise their work day is not ideal, not when it’s Jan’s birthday and everyone forgets what they’re supposed to do because yay, Cake!

It’s about being able to go home and be with their families worry-free instead of working. It’s about getting the system to do the heavy lifting for us so we can get shit done but still be on our way home at 4pm. Being able to get something out of the evening as well, such as playing Dragon Age or writing semi-aggresive articles.

So instead of those FOMO-inducing notifications, I’d rather show the latest updates from yesterday — into their tasks for today which they can go through while enjoying their morning coffee. Which is still there when they’re done eating Jan’s birthday cake. Or just have a saved stack of messages monday morning instead of notifications throughout the weekend, so maybe our kids won’t grow up all horrible and attention-hungry because mommy and daddy had to answer work mails all the way through movie night.

Because the truth is, no one wants a system which means more work.

Our industrial and technological progress originates in our own laziness. And that’s not a bad thing, mind you.

Without laziness (or just the wish to survive past 30 and earn as much as possible with the least amount of effort) chatbots and AIs would probably never be as popular as they are now. If the computer would even exist at all which I’d doubt it would had we no laziness at all.

In our quest to design for people, we need to design for real people. Not how we perceive them, as regular and biased (imperfect) humans ourselves. Nor how we believe they should be, but simply in how they are.

Not depending on the Persona of the ideal customer or client, a Persona conveniently enough shaped to verify our own theories. You know, the kind where John Doe, 48 married with 2 kids just loves your system, when in fact no such thing exists — the ideal customer, that is.

Instead of designing for the ideal, the perfect, let’s focus instead on the imperfect. Because it’s in the imperfect we find human nature, we know this from our very selves.

Back in the real reality John Doe hates your fucking system because his new boss showed it down his throat even though he’s spent the last 5 years getting used to another system. Now he has to learn yours. Which means every time he logs in he carefully notes all your system errors and flaws.

John positively hates that lime-green colour you picked for “calmness” and “productivity” to fit your family man, 48 with 2 kids Persona.

John Doe shits on your calmness and productivity.

That’s what we need to be designing for. Because if we can win over someone like John Doe, take his situation and turn it from that into a decent workday where he’s actually changing his opinions about the system, well, that’s what I’d call damn good Product Design.

Thank you for reading!

PS. I‘m pretty excited about doing lots more Product Design for our platform renegade style. I’m also pretty proud of our new website which I designed, you should totally check it out! Also if you have any cool Product Design articles do send me the links!

Stumbling head-first into Product Design was originally published in Prototypr on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Stumbling head-first into Product Design

Cool stuff, every week

More Articles