Making a product that matters

dsumner — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 23:46:58 GMT

I’ve been reading “Design Matters: How great designs will make people love your company” by Robert Brunner and Stewart Emery.

Its an interesting text, though it does come over a little strong in the Apple/Jobs fan boy department.

Perhaps the observation that struck a cord with me the most was the concept of “mattering”.Does your product matter to someone?

There is a reference to Microsoft in the text, in terms that Microsoft software is used by millions of people everyday, only a small percentage would see that software as mattering to them. Its seen more as a utility.

Software can matter to people – Facebook matters, Twitter matters, Instant Messenger matters etc. People genuinely care about what such software does, it becomes intrinsic in their lives.

So how do you make your software matter?

Well that clearly comes from the experience your software enables not the software itself. I’m no experience designer but if you find this area interesting looking into the work of our Principle Researcher for Design at Microsoft, Bill Buxton might be a starting point.

The Art of the Possible : internet

Making a product that matters