[IxDA Discuss] TechCrunch defends the life of the "user"

[Christopher Fahey]

> The flaw with this approach is that
> "you, the developer" have different 
> cultural background/experience/
> expectations than "her, the blog 
> reader". 
> 
> This is one of the reasons for 
> creating and referring to personas.
 
That's precisely correct, and very succintly put. Using the word "you"
in documentation can risk implying, if only subconsciously, that the
reader -- who is a developer, designer, etc -- is the same person who
will actually use the system. 

Still, I think I have a workaround. If the whole point is to foster
empathy for the end-user of a product, explicitly demanding that the
developer think of themselves as a user. Maybe a better formulation
would be more like a traditional "Choose Your Own Adventure" literary
model, prefacing and contextualizing the whole document and process
around role-playing: 

   "You are Beth, the frequent shopper. You click SUBMIT and then click
OKAY in the confirmation dialog box."

By frequently reminding the developer just whose shoes they need to
continually imagine themselves in, the second person is given this
missing context of projection.

Most of the best designers I know have an amazing degree of built-in
ability to imagine themselves actually being their customers and
actually using their products. Conversely, the worst designers are
borderline Asperger's sufferers, with no ability to even imagine another
person's perspective. Perhaps another approach, then, would be to
require the designer him/herself to write in the first person, role
playing as the user.

  "I am Beth, the frequent shopper. I click SUBMIT and then click OKAY
in the confirmation dialog box."

Food for thought. Has anyone seen or used documentation using these
alternative perspectives (second and first person?)

-Cf

Christopher Fahey
____________________________
Behavior
http://www.behaviordesign.com
me: http://www.graphpaper.com 


________________________________

	From: Oleh Kovalchuke [mailto:tangospring at gmail.com] 
	Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2007 11:50 AM
	To: Christopher Fahey
	Cc: ixd-discussion
	Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] TechCrunch defends the life of the
"user"
	
	
	The flaw with this approach is that "you, the developer" have
different cultural background/experience/expectations than "her, the
blog reader". 
	 
	This is one of the reasons for creating and referring to
personas.
	
	Oleh
	 

	-- 
	Oleh Kovalchuke
	Interaction Design is the Design of Time
	http://www.tangospring.com/IxDtopicWhatIsInteractionDesign.htm 
	 
	 
	On 8/2/07, Christopher Fahey <chris.fahey at behaviordesign.com>
wrote: 

		Sorry to resurrect the "user" thread... But it occurred
to me that the
		most natural and common way that most people _already
use_ to describe 
		interactive experiences, and the one that has the most
built-in empathy
		for the person/user being talked about, is simply using
the word
		*"you"*.
		
		For example, instead of saying:
		"The user clicks SUBMIT and then clicks OKAY in the
confirmation dialog 
		box"
		... or
		"The person/customer/etc. clicks SUBMIT and then clicks
OKAY in the
		confirmation dialog box"
		... we should perhaps just say:
		"You click SUBMIT and then click OKAY in the
confirmation dialog box." 
		
		This is how normal people talk. Why do we or should we
communicate
		differently? What's wrong with the second person?
		
		Full essay here:
		http://www.graphpaper.com/2007/08-02_user-vs-you
<http://www.graphpaper.com/2007/08-02_user-vs-you> 
		
		Cheers,
		-Cf
		
		Christopher Fahey
		____________________________
		Behavior
		http://www.behaviordesign.com
		me: http://www.graphpaper.com
<http://www.graphpaper.com> 
	
________________________________________________________________
		Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!
		To post to this list ....... discuss at ixda.org
		List Guidelines ............
http://beta.ixda.org/guidelines
		List Help .................. http://beta.ixda.org/help
		Unsubscribe ................
http://beta.ixda.org/unsubscribe
		Questions .................. list at ixda.org
		Home ....................... http://beta.ixda.org