I really enjoyed watching this TED Talks and I really think that it holds a lot of valuable information for designers of all types. Tony Fadell’s background, among many things, involves his time working at Apple and being a key part of the design for the iPod. In his TED Talks, Tony describes a few things he has learned in his experiences that he feels has made him a better designer— a major point he describes as noticing the small things that everyone has become habituated to.
He describes in the beginning how humans become habituated to small nuisances we encounter often, that habituation is a natural process for humans. Rather than think of solutions for these small problems, we tend to just accept these problems, much like the nuisance of peeling the sticker off of fruit before we eat it. We just do it. Tony says that in designing we need to not only see these problems but we also need to find the solutions to these problems. A few suggestions Tony describes are how to view these problems broadly, view them closely, and to keep a young mind.
I find all of Tony’s insights valuable. I think looking broadly at a problem is something we tend to lose site of as designers, especially when we are given smaller and only isolated tasks. Its easy to put on blinders and miss the bigger solutions that are sitting right in front of us. Also I think looking closer at the details is something I already try to take to heart. Paying attention to how you do one thing is incredibly telling to how the larger picture will turn out. To me the difference between mediocre and greatness are in noticing and attending to the details. Lastly, in emphasizing to think young, Tony refers to how Steve Jobs always talked about thinking about the audience as a beginner— beginners don’t have the habituation experiences others have built a tolerance to. Beginners see the world through new eyes and this is valuable to the designer to understand. Making products that even the inexperienced user can understand— therefore building design solutions off of intuitive understandings rather than conventional ones. It is from this idea that designers can create powerful and bold solutions.
I think that there is something valuable for everyone in this TED Talks, in particular to designers there are loads of great insights. I highly recommend it to anybody designer or not.
Click HERE to view the TED Talk
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