What can human history teach us about designing better products?
Humans have been around for quite some time. There are behaviours that we have inherited and behaviours that we can alter so that we become a better designer and person overall.
UX design focuses on people and their many contexts therefore designing a great product has to involve understanding people. How people think and the way they communicate plays a crucial role in designing the right product for users.
Storytelling: How it shaped our past
Since the dawn of time, we have always been storytellers. What separates us between other mammals is our ability to talk about myths, legends, religions, and fantasies. We can think about abstract ideas and communicate it effectively with our peers. If you think about it, no other mammals can talk about gossip like we do. We can talk about things that we haven’t smelled, touched or experienced.
This unique communication was what differentiated us between the Neanderthals and other mammals 70,000 years ago. This event was called the Cognitive Revolution which Homo Sapiens differentiated themselves rising above other species in conjuring up beliefs, gossip, and abstract ideas.
Chimps can’t form more than 50 or so members while humans can form a group of 150 members. Personal gossip and communication can only go so far therefore a way to influence a group was to change the way they held their beliefs which was through myths.
Applying Storytelling to UX Design
So how can this be applied to designing better products? A big part of a UX designer’s job is to communicate effectively throughout your project group. In fact, 50% of our job is to communicate between team members. Understanding how to tell a story in design helps us convince stakeholders in making key decisions in our project.
First, you have to understand WHO your customer is, what are their behaviours, context and lifestyle. Then understand WHAT your customer’s wants, needs, goals and pains are. Once understood, know WHY your customer can’t get to their intended goals and specify on their pain points. This helps in the rising action where you state the climax of your customer’s pains or the result of those pains. The falling action is where you state HOW your customer finds a solution to those pains.
There are bound to be times when designers have to go through thoughtful disagreement to implement certain design decisions. Through the use of crafting a compelling and influential story, it can be used to create a well rounded product focusing on empathy with your target users. Storytelling releases dopamine when an emotional event has been told which help listeners to remember accurately along with other helpful factors.
Storytelling is what makes us unique and it is what gathers groups of people together to hold values. Putting this to use in design can prove to be effective in communicating your perspective across different design projects.
Ego: How we behave and think
Egos have been developing from the beginnings of the Cognitive Revolution and has been drastically evolving especially in today’s world. Understanding how we think will help us make the right decisions when the time arises.
Our ego were mainly in groups back we were hunter gatherers but now we have evolved into an age of instant gratification and technological we need to be able how to react and think about complex problems in the workplace.
From the day that we were born, we have had three types of egos. These egos belong in certain states of minds such as:
Conscious: where your brain is experiencing different rational thoughts and perceptions in reality.
Preconscious: where your stored knowledge, memories, and experiences contain.
Unconscious: it is the state where we are not awake and where most of our preordained urges and instincts lie.
In all three states, three different egos reside; ID, Ego, and Superego and each of them have unique characteristics that can reside in either of the above states.
ID
ID is the instinctual part of our personality which dictates our behaviours in different circumstances such as survival, food, shelter and our capabiltiy to survive. We are born with this instinct and is the source of what our body wants, needs, interests, and desires. The ID is in the state of unconsciousness as these desires are natural and instinctive.
Ego
The ego develops when we are near the age of three and strives to keep us in the bounds of social cuture and societal norms. It fulfills tasks given from the ID and analyzes them using a cost and benefit ratio. It it is a modified ID that has a blanket of the external social culture on top. The ego resides in all three states of unconscious, preconscious, and conscious.
Superego
The superego is the part of the brain where our morals, social consciousness, logical and ethical behavious belong. It is about doing the right things based off what we taught when we were children. We strive for perfection and we punish ourselves when we perform guilty acts. It resides in the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious parts of our brain.
How can we use ego to our advantage?
There are numerous things designers can practice so that ego does not get in the way of good design.
- Don’t get too attached to one design: We all have to favor certain designs over others. But remember that design is never done, there is always improvements that you can add to make your design better than the last one. Our superego and ego always wants to confirm that we are right but this is where empathy comes in. Knowing that sometimes we don’t have all the knowledge to a certain topic and researching these topics yourself with time and effort will help you understand who you are designing for.
- Don’t take feedback personally: We all need to improve our skills as designers. The only way to get better is to seek constructive feedback and understand how you can turn your weaknesses into strengths. Our egos strives for perfection but understanding that success is not overnight and designers have to put in the effort to get better at whatever they are weak at will need time.
- Know the truths of your argument/perspective: We need to able to make reasonable disagreements off fundamental truths. Being able to find these and support your design hypothesis is vital to having a great product. Just because someone disagrees with you doesn’t mean they are wrong. Our mammalian brains goes to fight or flight mode whenever conflict arises which is part of the ID. Thinking and reflecting on what is right and knowing the facts will help you determine the right hypothesis.
- Understand the perspectives of all stakeholders: In a design project, there are are a variety of stakeholders such as business, technical, and product. Having empathy and learning about their roles and perspectives helps you make a well rounded product. We know that we have our collective egos, but there are so many factors that tie into why a certain person has a fundamental belief.
5. Know Thyself: Last but not least, as a designer, you have to know yourself. What that means is that you have to know where your strengths, weaknesses, passions, and pain points are. Everyone has their preconscious part of their brains which consists of different knowledge that has been fed to you through many interactions and events.
Events and experiences shape who you are, knowing how you react to certain painful events and how you deal with will affect how you perform in the face of adversity in the future as well. These lie within the ID but reflecting on these memories through your conscious part of your brain and recognizing how your behaviours can be altered can help you become a more resilient person in general.
Conclusion
Knowing our past and understanding how we communicate and behave is crucial in designing in a fast paced environment. More than ever, designers need to be able to work well, communicate, and collaborate with a variety of team members.
We can use storytelling to influence people’s perspective and rally certain groups together with similar beliefs. Crafting a compelling narrative will help people hear your voice more in many situations in life.
Understanding how one behaves and how different events shape our past dictating our future interactions is also important in helping you become your best self when approaching design problems.
