[Sigia-l] Human-Centered Design 99% bad

[Listera]

Anne Miller:

> Z: Certainly, but those "uses" were *not* designed; they happened.
> 
> A: Exactly. They happened because these uses are inherent in the design,

No, no, no. These unintended consequences were *not* inherently part of the
design and, as you say, were not intended by the designer. They just
happened.

The fact that you used a phonebook as a monitor stand has absolutely,
positively nothing to do with its design. No phonebook designer takes this
into account while designing it. This would quickly approach arbitrariness
and, even, absurdity.

As I mentioned, my bias here is that I'm speaking as a designer, not an
anthropologist or a coroner doing a post-mortem. As a designer, I am
decidedly not going to spend even a minute "to extend, expand, and enable"
it to be a monitor stand, a doorstop on the Shuttle in space, edible, a
sponge for toxic chemicals, color coordinated with somebody's bedroom,
microwaveable, etc.

> as the designer the choice is yours.

Designers do *not* waste their time on things that are not reasonably within
the balance between the needs of users and owners. Good design doesn't
happen in a vacuum.

> You can also design an environment that appropriately constrains and
> appropriately enables activity.

Sure, but, like your own phonebook example, *arbitrary* uses just don't rise
to the level of consideration in the commercial design world.

Ziya
Rules without context are meant to annoy people who care.