This is a great read, thanks for the clear articulation of this fairly nuanced topic!
My 2 cents at the risk of stating the obvious: designing for emergence leads to more expensive implementations than user-centered design. These meta designs that allow users the flexibility to design their own experience require building user controls f…
This is a great read, thanks for the clear articulation of this fairly nuanced topic!
My 2 cents at the risk of stating the obvious: designing for emergence leads to more expensive implementations than user-centered design. These meta designs that allow users the flexibility to design their own experience require building user controls for things that could otherwise be "hard-coded".
So the long tail can feel being stuck between a rock and hard place - (a) making incremental improvements that may not justify the cost and (b) taking on the risk of building something expensive and flexible, hoping that users find their own ways to use it. Do you have more insights to offer here? :)
This is a great question! My answer may not be satisfying but it's the best thing I've seen work — build the 'blocks' as scrappy as possible, make it accessible to highly motivated users, and then pay close attention to when/where/how they use it in order to help guide further refinement.
This is a great read, thanks for the clear articulation of this fairly nuanced topic!
My 2 cents at the risk of stating the obvious: designing for emergence leads to more expensive implementations than user-centered design. These meta designs that allow users the flexibility to design their own experience require building user controls for things that could otherwise be "hard-coded".
So the long tail can feel being stuck between a rock and hard place - (a) making incremental improvements that may not justify the cost and (b) taking on the risk of building something expensive and flexible, hoping that users find their own ways to use it. Do you have more insights to offer here? :)
This is a great question! My answer may not be satisfying but it's the best thing I've seen work — build the 'blocks' as scrappy as possible, make it accessible to highly motivated users, and then pay close attention to when/where/how they use it in order to help guide further refinement.