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January 29, 2006
Reaction/Notes: Spark Innovation Through Empathic Design
Dorothy Leonard and Jeffrey F. Rayport, 1997. "Spark Innovation Through Empathic Design," Harvard Business Review, volume 75, number 6 (November-December), pp. 102-113.
The Harvard Business Review article reiterates the importance of ethnography informing design but unlike the previous article this one was clearly for the business crowd. While the first reading got me interested in human factors, this second one completely turned me off. Dealing with the bottom line end of the design process is inevitable but I prefer to explore the more humanistic side.
Here ethnography+design is called emphatic design. The article points out that people often don't know what they want and they create workarounds for the failings of technology. In getting used to these workarounds they may not realize other possibilities. It is interesting to note that traditional marketing study methods are great for existing products but fail when a new technology isn't tied to an existing customer paradigm.
Posted by mb2811 at January 29, 2006 10:57 PM