Comments on: Quote of the day http://heutedenkenmorgenfertig.com/2007/07/27/quote-of-the-day/ The digital home of Jacob Bøtter Thu, 09 Sep 2010 07:05:59 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Adriaan Bloem http://heutedenkenmorgenfertig.com/2007/07/27/quote-of-the-day/comment-page-1/#comment-52 Adriaan Bloem Fri, 03 Aug 2007 10:50:34 +0000 http://heutedenkenmorgenfertig.com/2007/07/27/quote-of-the-day/#comment-52 Like any mantra, it's only true if you don't take it too literally ;) Like any mantra, it’s only true if you don’t take it too literally ;)

]]> By: Steve Portigal http://heutedenkenmorgenfertig.com/2007/07/27/quote-of-the-day/comment-page-1/#comment-49 Steve Portigal Sat, 28 Jul 2007 03:10:12 +0000 http://heutedenkenmorgenfertig.com/2007/07/27/quote-of-the-day/#comment-49 If you accept the sexism as just a dated artifact of the times in which this statement was written, it's still really misleading. A few years back we presented to the executive committee of a major appliance manufacturer. We had stories from regular people who buy their products, and lots of themes and recommendations that came out of those stories. But these executives - C-level dudes from a Fortune 500 company - kept debating our observations and conclusions based on their singular data point of their own wives. Wives who didn't work, who didn't have to work, who lived in significantly affluent situations. That was their model for appliance users. It was just frustrating and frankly disgusting. The consumer is neither a moron nor your wife. Unless you are some hot bike/skateboard/Harley type company, the consumer is not you, either. Get outside your perspective and expectations and that's who you design for. IMHO, naturally! If you accept the sexism as just a dated artifact of the times in which this statement was written, it’s still really misleading.

A few years back we presented to the executive committee of a major appliance manufacturer. We had stories from regular people who buy their products, and lots of themes and recommendations that came out of those stories.

But these executives – C-level dudes from a Fortune 500 company – kept debating our observations and conclusions based on their singular data point of their own wives.

Wives who didn’t work, who didn’t have to work, who lived in significantly affluent situations. That was their model for appliance users. It was just frustrating and frankly disgusting.

The consumer is neither a moron nor your wife. Unless you are some hot bike/skateboard/Harley type company, the consumer is not you, either. Get outside your perspective and expectations and that’s who you design for. IMHO, naturally!

]]>