April 4, 2019 Meeting Notes

Hello again BOSLadies!

As promised, here are a few things that were debated and discussed during Tuesday’s meeting:

The idea that we tend to remember bad designs more often than those that are perfect because perfect isn’t memorable

or that perfectly designed products create pleasure and are memorable because of the satisfaction that they create

Apparently, people in general tend to notice the negative more than the positive

Do we appreciate good design because bad design exists?

A general tenet of the book is that a well-designed product can be used in your day to day activities without really having to be thought about. If an object is poorly designed, it interrupts whatever you are doing and requires some critical thinking.

You can be walking and talking to someone without having to pause if you encounter a door that is well-designed. If you come to a poorly designed door that you have to stop and think about how to open, then the flow of conversation is interrupted. But does that interruption always have to be thought of as negative?

Jennifer gave us a positive perspective on bad design. That interruption can be welcome if you’re feeling very much in your head or are stuck on a persisting problem. Coming to a door that makes you stop and think about how it operates can snap you out of the negative thought cycle that you were in. And you might even laugh about it. Being forced out of your headspace can be a good thing.

How can you communicate to your client that you design with empathy? The phrase “relating to what you said” was suggested as a way to illustrate that you’ve listened to the concerns that your client has made and are trying to relate and be accommodating.

A sizable section of the book is spent examining the different levels of perception and cognition in the human brain. This brought to mind Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking Fast and Slow which “explains the two systems that drive the way we think”. If you’re unfamiliar with this Nobel Prize winner, here is his TED talk about our “experiencing selves” and our “remembering selves”.

And one fun thing: A fascinating article about gender based pricing in dry cleaning

Thanks,

Amber Poirier