The100: Inclusive design, insight pitfalls and dancing bats

“The future looks faster, nearer, meaner”

Grant McCracken has mapped 250 things that he thinks could transform us.

We have to see things early, when they don’t really look like things at all. And then we have to be prepared to repudiate them in the event they were really just “noise” after all. Or to watch them transform themselves into something entirely unexpected.

Verrrrrry interesting to see that ‘empathy’ is on the transformation list. Grant has said he’ll be keeping a watchful eye on the term after its stratospheric rise in use.

A story about some stories

Grant’ll find a tonne of empathy in the stories emanating from the Humans of New York project. It currently has 30 million fans and the story behind the project is a short yet fascinating read.

As HONY’s founder, Brandon Stanton, said:

The better I get at storytelling, the more empathy that’s naturally drawn out. Because I feel like once we truly understand people it’s harder to judge them.

Challenge yourself

Now, this is genius.

Cards for Humanity is a tool to help us design inclusively and usurp any assumptions or subconscious decisions.

You’re dealt 2 cards: a person and a trait. You then use them to scenario test your product, service or concept from a different perspective.

So much more constructive to give to colleagues than its less-than-PC near-namesake. (True background story/wouldn’t advise/ask me over a coffee sometime.)

Oops – did we forget the point of all this?

Estrella Lopez-Brea of General Mills has raised some brilliant points around research becoming more transactional, and it being used for validation instead of learning.

108 comments and counting…

Can I trust you?

Participants can also make market research difficult.

Sometimes deliberately, when they may be an outlier, cheater, or professional panelist.

Or sometimes by accident, when they may not be able to accurately recall their own behaviour. For example, misjudging their time spent on Facebook.

If you find that kind of thing happening, the tip is to use a comparison of where they fall relative to others:

Instead of saying

‘teens who spend two hours or more on Facebook were more likely to…’

you might say,

‘users in the top 10% of self-reported Facebook use were more likely to…’

Please, no, not another…

How are your webinar tolerance levels?

I was hovering around a super-saturated over-dose status until I saw Tribe publishing some corkers. They’re featuring the likes of Godin and Ritson, and companies such as Waze, Diageo and Waitrose.

When solving puzzles isn’t really a puzzle

Chris Ramsay has amassed millions of followers by recording himself solving puzzles.

Why would people follow such obscurity?

Michael Roderick’s answer is a simple one:  people just like to watch other people.

Well, I never 🙂

Completely batty (not just me)

When I lived in Sydney, I wrote an as yet unpublished book on bat facts. True.

What I should have done was film them upside down, so it looks like they’re having the time of their lives, and bung it on Twitter (h/t Rob Campbell).

And finally, this:

Chapeau, Staedtler.