How do I know what I know? Clearly everything that I know I have gathered from one source or another, in fact very little human thought is truly original I find. Ever think you have a great idea to only realize it has already been done? Yeah me too. But just because you are not completely original does not mean you cannot add upon another individual’s works. In fact the most famous inventors and scientists throughout history are documented as “borrowing” many of their greatest ideas from others. Edison and Einstein have been accused of stealing the majority of their works from other inventors and scientists. For as unoriginal as humans are we also all have extremely different approaches to cognitive though.
So when designing something for mass use and consumption, there are general constants that can be relied on in terms of usability. But, also every user is unique in their thought process and designing a product or service that fits every users needs perfectly is impossible. That is not to say that there are trends to follow when considering design. For example when designing a website people tend to look at the top of a webpage first and then the left side and read left to right much like a book. But also, when viewing a website individuals tend to skim for the important information—more like reading a text book. Those are all factors that need to be taken into consideration in design.
One of the biggest contributing factors to how we learn is our parents, our income, our spiritual beliefs, political beliefs often are directly affected by what our parents believe. In fact almost all of our though comes from the ideas of society. It is familiar, and familiarity is important to the majority of people because change is scary. The same principle applies when designing something, the product or service has to be familiar and accessible. Which is why it is important, even if you’re design is revolutionary or infinitely better then the competition or prior iterations.
There are entire websites teaching individuals on how to navigate new products or websites easily. Such sites include the how-to site Mahal0. Which explains current trends or news as we as products often in a how-to format. Other similar sites include WikiHow which has a similar functionality to Wikipedia where users can edit the information. Both of these sites help users navigate and use modern products and services. Linearizing otherwise confusing or abstract products and service.
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