The Golden Assumptions of Product Design
1 min readFeb 12, 2021
The user is a creature which is:
- Largely ignorant.
- Inexperienced.
- Lazy.
- Immediately forgetful.
- Often, and at any time, regretful.
- Habitual.
- Irrationally pain & loss-avoiding.
- Irrationally pleasure- and joy-seeking.
And that’s OK. There is nothing wrong with users. But this is the baseline you should assume when you design.
So, to address each point (in slam-poetry style):
- Show them, don’t just tell. When they need it.
- Teach them; don’t onboard once, but continuously, and repeat it.
- Do their jobs, or at least, let them batch it.
- Let them easily go back, to re-view. Keep their overview.
- Always let them undo, and don’t make them redo.
- Cut down steps to the absolute few, based on what they actually do. Don’t force them to adapt to you.
- Treat their input as sacred, so they don’t lose, even a few.
- Spark joy; invest in small delights, so they are repeatedly attracted to you. You see the utility and business value in that, don’t you?