Published on | Prototyping: From UX to Front End — Medium Colin Wilson

A study on why people do what it is that they do.

I have been on a journey to find what makes a product successful. What makes something deemed good or bad? A product is useless if no one uses it. So, what is it that makes people use products? And how can we use this understanding to create better products for these people?

Enter Rene Girard.

Mimetic Desire

Rene Girard was a French Polymath whose insights have impacted almost all sciences and arts. His theory was to point out the “…observable tendency of human beings to subconsciously imitate others and the extension of this mimesis to people’s subconscious desire.”

Simply put, people’s desires are created by mimicking the desires of those around them. He called this the Mimetic Desire.

This works in two ways. People want objects because they see that someone else has or wants the same object. The object is not the point. It is the desire for the object that is the point.

Mimetic Desire

A good example of this is fashion. You’re living your life, happy as can be. And bam, you’re best friend shows up at dinner wearing the coolest shirt from a new company. He’s cool and he looks cool in the shirt. You didn’t know you needed another shirt, but now you need a shirt from this brand. You’re hit with the desire to be cool like him and the shirt is the easiest way to project that desire to be cool.

As this triangular relationship grows to other people, a tribe forms.

Mimetic Desire Jumps

In early humans, this is the beginning of tribes and then culture. Today, we express this through sports, brands, politics, and movements.

Another thing to note, is that at some point, the original object and desire can become lost in the crowd or tribe. It just becomes a way of being.

Using this Desire (ethically).

There are two parts sides of this desire. One that is normal and good. The second, while also a natural tendency, is destructive. This article focuses on the former, more on the latter later.

The first part of using the desire is identifying the desire. To do this, you have to know who your product is for. Second, you need to know as much about your audience as you can. The goal is to pull qualitative insights about the desire and the reason for engagement. Be wary of asking direct questions about products. People tend to project the desire of others back through their answers.

Be wary of asking direct questions about products. People tend to project the desire of others back through their answers.

If you were creating a new classroom experience and asked someone what kind of classroom they want to work in, they tend to project the expected desires through their answers, rather than a classroom that would align with their actual desires.

Instead, ask questions about what spaces make them feel safe. What topics they are most passionate about and how they learned about them. This will cut to the core of their desires instead of projecting the desires of others and the culture back onto a product.

After gathering these insights, the goal is to wade through and find a similar atmosphere or emotion woven through the responses. Then, synthesize this core insight into a singular emotion and phrase.

This singular emotion becomes the simple human truth for the audience. Everything must flow from this emotion.

Example of a target audience question:

Why do college women play sports?

Simple Human Truth:

College women play sports to belong.

(This is a completely fictional desire. :))

Final Thoughts

This simple human truth should become the guiding light for your product. It should undergird all of the decisions you make for brand strategy, company culture, and product releases. Post it everywhere and make sure everyone knows what the Simple Human Truth is for your business. Constantly test how to curate it and develop it. It will make your product stronger.

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Understanding People was originally published in Prototypr on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Understanding People

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