This is an image of a 1957 Ferrari 335 S.
Were we ever together? What brings us together? Who’s responsible for bringing us together? Can design do that? I wonder if we’re designing apps and creating content that keeps people alone and distant. How do we meet new people or make new friends now? How do we connect better with others using the technology we possess everyday?
These are questions I ask myself a lot. To give you an example, I live in a large building, sort of a no-so-high rise. The people that live here in this building are my neighbors. Yet when I walk by someone that lives right on my floor, sometimes even next door, some will do everything they can to pretend I don’t exist.
Invisible.
The amount of effort I observe being exerted to do this is so blatantly obvious. I can see their discomfort as they try not to look at me and look into the void or the end of the hall as to never have to engage. As if I was never there.
I don’t take it personally. They don’t know me. I’ve never done anything to them for them to not like me. But I do wonder if we’re not causing these problem by how we design.
I create user experiences and it’s usually one experience for all users, but we pretend it’s perfected for one user. I used to be such an advocate for personal, customized experiences for each user, which is kind of impossible. But I was thinking about what I thought would make whichever giant corporation I was working for a better product and, in turn, more money. After all the horrible experiences I’ve had in my career, as recently as the last year, I reserve that energy for myself now.
Maybe we need a new target to design for. I don’t know what it would be called.
We need to design for togetherness.