Alan Cooper drops some awesome knowledge on us that tells us why we need to have empathy in designing stuff, (like Bettr@)
Most digital products today emerge from the development process like a monster emerging from a bubbling tank.
Developers, instead of planning and executing with their users in mind, end up creating technological solutions over which they ultimately have little control.
Like mad scientists, they fail because they have not imbued their creations with humanity.
What I feel strong about is that we’re going to start hitting the ground soon (literally), doing guerilla observation on prototypes and wireframes. If people get frightened by them now, we change them before they become those monsters emerging from bubbling tanks.
Although I must say this cookie monster doll is kind of adorable.
In creating Bettr@, sometimes I talk to people who aren’t exactly motivated to improve themselves. They just don’t get it. Maybe their kids need to learn new things, but they don’t have the time to with everything else going on in their busy lives.
Here’s the rub. People are living longer than ever, and are recycling careers faster than ever.
‘studies in the United States at the end of the seventies already showed that between 10 and 30 percent of the economically active population had experienced at least one career change in a 5-year period’ (Teixeria & Gomes, 2000, p. 78)
And when you do, let us know *where you go first* to find information about how to get better at that skill, or subject. Extra points for “pain” stories.
Leave a comment or better yet, find me in a hallway at school and let’s chat.
