How to bust the harmful myth of the average user / Indi Young / Episode #130

There is a dangerous trap in the ways you use to capture the needs of the people you're designing for.

Of course, you have constraints and need to make design decisions. And the saying is true that if you're designing for everyone you're essentially designing for no-one.

So there are a lot of tools and methods to describe who it is that you're designing for. Personas, empathy maps, customer avatars, user profiles, etc.

But when not used mindfully and with care these tools can do more harm than good.

The consequence might be that you end up designing services that unintentionally exclude people. Or even worse, cause real harm.

As a community that takes pride in being human centered this is not what we signed up for and we need to avoid this at all cost.

So in this week's episode Indi Young shares a better approach to defining and describing the people we're designing for. The best part is that it's an approach that you can easily embed in your current practice.

If you're serious about human centered design this is an episode you can't miss.

--- [ GUIDE ] -—

00:00 Welcome to episode 130

03:00 Who is Indi

06:45 60 second rapid fire

09:45 The upcoming book book

12:00 Unconsiouce biases

17:45 The uptake

20:45 Designing with constrains

25:00 Thinking styles

31:00 Making it actionable

33:15 Where do we start

39:15 Getting business listen

42:45 Who are the adopters

45:15 The outlier

47:00 Common misconceptions

49:30 Unsolved challenges

53:00 Recommended resources

55:30 Final thoughts

--- [ LINKS ] ---

* https://www.linkedin.com/in/indiyoung/

* https://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/practical-empathy/

* https://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/mental-models/

* https://indiyoung.com/essays-talks/

* Weapons of Math Destruction (book) - https://amzn.to/3BLxFEK

* Design for Real Life (book) - https://amzn.to/3rB6Mic

* Set Boundaries, Find Peace (book) - https://amzn.to/3ynACJL

--- [SERVICE DESIGN JOBS] ---

* https://servicedesignjobs.com/podcast

--- [ HOW TO EXPLAIN SERVICE DESIGN ] ---

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