Scott Berkun Profile picture
May 12, 2020 7 tweets 3 min read Read on X
1. Since I care about all kinds of design, I was excited to discover this sandwich design competition by @BritSandwich! But there are problems, as you can see. #designmtw Image
2. Of course people argue about "what is a sandwich" and I'm on the side that if it's open faced, it's reaaaally not a sandwich but that's besides the point.

The main design issue is usability: how do you eat this without it going all over the place? Image
3. This seems trivial, but food that is impossible to eat without making a mess has design problems.

As does food that really shouldn't need a knife and fork, like a hamburger, but is so overloaded or tall that it can't legitimately be held. Image
4. It's a classic "design to sell" vs. "design to use" problem - it sounds great & might look interesting at first but it's not a sandwich anymore. It's more like casserole out of its pan.

I'm not making a categorization argument: some "food" isn't designed to eat. Not really.
5. I'm from NYC so of course I have opinions about Pizza.

Say what you will about NYC vs. Chicago, but one is designed to be easy to eat and even walk with. Travolta eats two in Saturday Night Fever.

It becomes a sandwich, by design. No forks, no plates. No confusion. Image
6. How do you eat this? What is the design intent?

Nachos are based on "chip delivery of other food items." But this one is like JENGA - try to extra a chip without making a mess by toppling the tower, reinsert and then eat.

(a loaded chip is an open faced Sandwich, no?) Image
7. There are exceptions: when it's clear you will be eating with your hands and it will be messy.

Example: Crab boils where you get bibs, hammers, crackers (shown - a cool design on it's own) etc.

There's no pretense and no pretending to be a sandwich either. Thumbs up. ImageImage

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More from @berkun

Sep 15, 2021
Study decisions, not just ideas. It's decisions and the people who make them that define how ideas are evaluated.

If you only care about ideas you'll stay mystified and angry about why "the best" idea never gets chosen.

Study decisions. Learn how to influence them.
I've read many books on decision making but this one had the most powerful impact on me.

For the approach he takes alone, studying front line workers making life and death decisions, it's a worthy read.

Sources of Power, Gary Klein
Have you ever kept a decision journal? Here's how it works.

When you have a big decision:

1. Write down your thoughts about your options.
2. And your rationale for deciding.
3. Then decide.
4. Experience the outcome.
5. Review 1 & 2 - what can you learn now? write it down
Read 4 tweets
Jul 22, 2021
1. We have 5 basic senses - then why don't designers and experiences use all of them?

It's always fun to step back and ask this question, which often leads down the path to SMELL-O-VISION. Image
2. It sounds like a joke but Smell-O-Vision was one of many attempted innovations to improve the movie theater experience.

Like many attempted innovations, many approaches were tried. Some tried to pump in scents into the theaters, but the timing was a problem. Image
3. Others tried a simpler approach, using "scratch and sniff" cards - Instructions would appear on the screen telling you when to use which one. Clever. Image
Read 7 tweets
Jun 16, 2021
1. All of the ideas in How Design Makes The World are encapsulated in these four questions every product team should ask regularly. #design #ux #designmtw
2. Many projects have requirements, schedules and cool ideas, but forget to focus on improving something specific for real people. Or get lost along the way.

Good teams refresh the real goals often, like a lighthouse.
3. We're all prone to forgetting our biases and designing for ourselves.

If we don't go out of our way to study our customer's real needs, and how they differ from our own, we will fail them and possibly not even know until it's too late.
Read 7 tweets
May 13, 2021
1. Have you been frustrated by how little your coworkers understand about the value of what you do?

If you're a UX designer, you're an expert. But there's a trap in how this expertise is taught that works against you.

This thread explains what to do about it.
2. Design books/courses are design-centric, but the world isn't. Orgs are business, tech or mission centric. Collision-warning!

"I have to explain my value? And work uphill for respect?"

Yes. The sheer numbers make this likely! But do not despair.
3. We imagine our coworkers should *already know* about design. But how could that possibly happen? Who would have taught them?

We're trained with the presumption non-designers should magically know things - but is that how we approach designing products for people?
Read 11 tweets
Apr 27, 2021
If requirements define the problem, how can a designer succeed if the problems they are supposed to solve are poorly defined or the wrong ones?
If the person writing requirements knows nothing about good design, why would anyone expect good design to be a possible outcome?

It's like someone who has never cooked writing a recipe.
Requirements:

- car that goes 1000mph
- lasts 1000 years
- cures cancer
- creates world peace
- makes selfish people generous for 10mile radius
- easy to use
Read 4 tweets
Apr 14, 2021
1. When people say "innovations happen faster today than ever before" ask:

Does this person know anything about the history of innovation?

It's an impressive sounding statement rarely challenged since we like to hear it. But it's misleading in several ways that I'll explain.
2. The pace of change is not the same as scale.

For example:

The shift from hauling water on your back to indoor plumbing is HUGE. The shift from iPhone 10 to 11 is SMALL.

Have there been shifts as transformative to your quality of life as plumbing recently? I doubt it.
3. We love Amazon for Prime delivery and consider it a breakthrough, but in 1900 Sears had the same business model: huge catalog + ship anywhere (thx to new railroads).

You could order an entire kit for a house and thousands of Americans did.
Read 9 tweets

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