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> If Carousel is intended to solve a user problem, neither I nor other potential users seem to be able to figure out what it is. > users don’t seem to be keen

by aspir 12y ago

> If Carousel is intended to solve a user problem, neither I nor other potential users seem to be able to figure out what it is. > users don’t seem to be keen on replacing the main Facebook app > a sufficiently vague target is harder to miss The common thread between these products is that they are solutions in search of problems. Great design can't help you find the "problem" to solve faster than any other technique. This is a product/market fit article that just happens to focus on design driven products.

dmbass 12y ago
I think that's the entire point of the article. The premise is that designers have been given a seat at the table because of the perception that they have some advanced insight into producing products with market fit and betting on them is more likely to produce a successful product. The author uses these three apps, a sample of design driven products, to show that lauded designers have no better insight than anybody else. Maybe they're only better at making things shiny, not creating valuable products.
null_ptr 12y ago
Designers are good at refining existing products for mass consumption, it's engineers that come up with new, innovative products that solve real problems. Expecting designers to be good engineers is insulting to both professions.
- aspir 12y ago
  > it's engineers that come up with new, innovative products that solve real problems It's _humans_ that come up with new, innovative products that solve real problems. The profession those humans choose vary.
- harlanlewis 12y ago
  Wow! What a weirdly expansive/narrow view of fields you identify/don't identify with.
- gfodor 12y ago
  Obviously bucketing one or the other is foolish. The people who come up with innovative products are usually called inventors, and they can come from a background of engineering, design, or anything really.
- MadManE 12y ago
  I would argue that true design is the essence of engineering. Or alternatively, that engineering is simply directed design.

by aspir 12y ago

dmbass 12y ago

I think that's the entire point of the article. The premise is that designers have been given a seat at the table because of the perception that they have some advanced insight into producing products with market fit and betting on them is more likely to produce a successful product. The author uses these three apps, a sample of design driven products, to show that lauded designers have no better insight than anybody else. Maybe they're only better at making things shiny, not creating valuable products.

null_ptr 12y ago

Designers are good at refining existing products for mass consumption, it's engineers that come up with new, innovative products that solve real problems. Expecting designers to be good engineers is insulting to both professions.

aspir 12y ago
> it's engineers that come up with new, innovative products that solve real problems It's _humans_ that come up with new, innovative products that solve real problems. The profession those humans choose vary.
harlanlewis 12y ago
Wow! What a weirdly expansive/narrow view of fields you identify/don't identify with.
gfodor 12y ago
Obviously bucketing one or the other is foolish. The people who come up with innovative products are usually called inventors, and they can come from a background of engineering, design, or anything really.
MadManE 12y ago
I would argue that true design is the essence of engineering. Or alternatively, that engineering is simply directed design.