User-centred design

My work world is rife with the phrase “user-centred design” … old things don’t have enough of it, and new things probably need expensive tools/consultants to ensure they do it right. In some software development circles, it’s a cudgel every bit as heavy as phonics in education or the 5-4 offense in whatever sport cares about offense systems.

Mostly that’s marketing hooey. People build software that will sell, and you do that either with or without consulting end users. If your software doesn’t sell, either you won’t do it again, or the process was corrupt somehow and so it doesn’t matter.

But there’s a grain of value in the notion of user-centred design. This bathroom door at the hardware store is an example of where a little more design work would have been valuable. If the goal of that metal plate is so people will open the door by pushing it, that’s a FAIL.

I glanced at the ladies room door (but didn’t try to take a picture cause, y’know) and either ladies are better at figuring out what to do, or they’re not as tall.