Pat’s Point of View

As user experience practitioners, do our own views and opinions (as users) change as we participate in more and more user research? Do we end up with a mish-mash of all the things we see and hear from other people?

I know I have changed my views on many things over the last few years. My opinions and behaviours are very different now, compared to when I might have considered myself a techie (whenever that was!). I’ve even picked up some ‘habits’ from user research participants. I feel I’ve become more like the average joe using the web (with a hint of anti-system, anti-establishment). This is a good thing.
This probably applies equally well to other professions too. My wife has recently established an event management business, and the part she loves most is designing weddings. I wonder how her own personal views/tastes with regard to weddings might change the more she works with her clients. Will their variety of ideas and experiences rub off on Jenn such that her concept of a perfect wedding changes?
Obvisouly anything that allows designers (with a little d) to better empathise with their audience is a good thing, but can it go too far? Will we lose objectivity or worse, our personal identity?

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 21st, 2006 at 9:52 am and is filed under IA, User experience. If you enjoyed this post, you might also like to leave a comment or follow @patrickkennedy on Twitter.

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About the author

Patrick Kennedy is a user experience strategist and design researcher based in Sydney Australia. He leads research activities that improve the user experience of cross-channel products and services; helping both designers and business decision makers in bringing those products and services to fruition. Read more.