This document discusses why many things are poorly designed, noting that designs are often made from an engineering perspective rather than considering how users will interact with the product. It states that poor design can result from adding too many features, not fully understanding how users think about a task or their environment, and underestimating users' knowledge. The document emphasizes the need for usability testing to bridge the knowledge gap between designers and users.

1. Why are so many things badly designed?
http://www.baddesigns.com/starbucks.html

2. Badly designed things are usually designed from
an engineering/technical standpoint (what
engineers/techies think is cool) rather than from
the standpoint of people who will be using it.
• “Feature creep”
• Imperfect knowledge of the user’s “mental model”
• Imperfect knowledge of the user’s context or the
environment in which they’ll be using something
• Imperfect understanding of users’ understanding or
knowledge.

3. http://conversionxl.com/intuitive-web-design-how-to-make-your-website-intuitive-to-use/#.
The KNOWLEDGE GAP
between designers and users

4. Therefore…
USABILITY TESTING!!