Like the name of the post suggests. It’s just a belief that I have had since I was introduced to terms like HCI, Usability, User Focus, User Experience Design etc etc etc. When I read and learnt more about these thing to start applying them to my work, I felt I was becoming sensitive to the idea in various aspects of my life. The way you drive on the road, the way you treat strangers around you, the way you are sensitive to the needs of other people.
I remember standing on the Delhi Metro platform a number of times, getting pushed and jostled around, having people thrust their smelly armpits towards me, people looking away when they see an elderly/pregnant person standing so they wouldn’t have to give away their seats .. and I remember thinking, now this guy could never make a user friendly design. They are just not friendly to the people around them.
Or when you’re driving on the road. God knows all those blessed with vehicles have also been blessed with rear view mirrors in the same. And we can safely assume (hopefully) that they are trained to follow traffic rules. But when people drive with their lights on high beams, drive at full speed in residential areas, swerve without looking in the rear view and think they own the road. These guys probably can never make a user friendly design.
I own a Hyundai i20 and though a few acquaintances have had a bad experience with theirs, I find the car a delight to use. The entire experience is focused towards the comfort and convenience of the driver and I simply love driving it. Now the people who designed this car – Nice people! 🙂
This is perhaps just an inherent belief. Maybe one that I have cultivated over a few years now, all through observation – of myself and others. Maybe I am just shooting a baseless arrow in the dark here. But I truly believe usability touches (or should touch) all aspects in our lives. Especially for those who design for usability. Life around us is a wonderful training ground. Which is why I say nice designs are made by people who are nice … or get trained to be nice 🙂
[Disclaimer: The author of this post by no means wants to imply that she is a nice person or that she makes nice designs. But she assures you that she knows nice people who make fantastic designs :-)]
A-musing Thoughts 
The belief you hold is true.
Design is what makes art usable.
And the creation always reflects the heart of the creator.
But while all sensitive people are not good good designers, all good designers have to sensitive people. Creating a good design is all about being all heart.
hmmm…after thinking about it for a while, this actually makes sense. A design is something that’s influenced more by the heart than mind. Mind would only tell you ‘how’ but its d heart that decides d ‘what’. A cleaner heart always makes a person nicer n will always create a more thoughtful design.
Very true.
The nature of design will necessarily be dictated, to an extent, by the nature of the person tasked with it.
nice disclaimer
An interesting post and it is true as well.
Although the article was somewhat sensitively described (and that in an innovative way) by you, the disclaimer took all the credit which involved humor punches necessary to get involved the readers in and out. BTW I loved your writing. Its damn good. Can I know from how long you r into writing?
Thank you 🙂
I really don’t consider myself much of a writer. Am more of a reader than a writer :-). Just use this space to vent when I cannot contain my thought within 140 characters 🙂
hi quite bumped into ur blog by chance …and randomly read the post which had the word design since i have been in this…u have put the things quite interestingly, i also felt good design is being sensitive to user….having an empathy towards his problems and situations,….and may be we are taught to be so in design schools…..but are good designers good at heart…thats a tough one i guess.. but i have found the greatest designers are quite pure and simple at their heart…..was a nice read..keep writing.
interesting concept. makes sense 🙂 . But it got me wondering, is the converse also true? Those who cannot make nice designs (example : me), are they not nice then ????
Ah now that might be reading into it a bit much. No I don’t think that would be true 🙂