Macadamian Blog

Even Genius Strikes Out. Why Even the Best Designers need User Research.

Clients often ask me "can't you design something great and innovative without user feedback?" The short answer is "we might be able to, but there may be some high risk involved". Occasionally they'll push back, implying that this is the fault of my designer’s skill level. This brings to mind a cautionary tale from another field about relying on genius alone to deliver "the answer".

Albert Einstein is the poster boy for Genius in the 20th Century. For my graduate thesis in physics I actually had to learn what's regarded as his greatest achievement (The General Theory of Relativity) and to the extent that I can appreciate the theory, I think all the accolades are well deserved. It’s the epitome of "out of the box" thinking, or "inspired genius", or whatever term you think is fitting for a Mozart or an Einstein.

One thing people sometimes forget about Einstein, though, is that he was, as my thesis supervisor pointed out - "a lot like a home run hitter, he struck out a fair amount too". People will, of course, remember Einstein's achievements or Babe Ruth’s home runs, but sometimes forget that when you swing for the fences you'll sometimes never even make contact with the ball, much less hit it out of the park.

What's that got to do with User Experience Design?

In the about 20 years I've been in this field I've come across a few creative geniuses, great designers and innovative thinkers in design (or more likely a design team that is aptly described by those terms) and they will absolutely hit home runs. The gotcha with design is that its more like physics than baseball. When Arod hits a home run we all know it. When you create a design or a revolutionary theory in physics, you really don't know if its a home run until you get independent and unbiased feedback.

The business risk is your ingenious and creative team has some fundamental misunderstanding or assumption about the product or its users that will undermine it being the huge success you hope it is. Einstein threw in the "cosmological constant" into his theory (in his words, his "biggest mistake") because he couldn't get his head around the fact the universe could be expanding. Not too many people would claim he wasn't too bright or talented in his field of work. But he was human, and had to make assumptions and guesses. You can have the smartest and most talented design team and they are subject to the same constraint. They are human and have to make some assumptions and guesses about their users, so they might be wrong sometimes.

In science, assumptions are tested because even the most talented people can be wrong sometimes. In User Experience design, the same thing must be done to ensure a home run. There's a lot out there that is already known, in both science and design. When dealing with a problem that has already been solved in UX design (just like physics) you can trust your experienced and trained designers to get the right answer. However, in design there are so many variables that can impact the user experience, that previously established user conventions cannot account for the full picture. User testing should always be a part of the process.

In summary. when you have a new or innovative idea which you want to try, then go ahead of course. It’s the foundation of progress in any field. Keep in mind, though, that your Einsteins aren't always going to hit a home run at first. Do whatever you can to help test, guide and evolve their ideas and decisions with the support of other key team members and a scientific approach to user feedback.